Area 5 Mounted Games- 27th April 2024- Report by Claire West

What a day we had at Higher Farm for the Area mounted games qualifier.  At this competition, only teams placed 1st and 2nd would qualify for Zone, so the heat was on!!

The Junior A team consisted of Members & ponies:

Heyward riding Kassey, Amber K riding Barley, Amber D riding Lockie, Jonty riding Eddie, Evie riding Peter Pan and reserve rider Maizie.

It started off well for these guys – beautifully turned out won them 2nd place in the Tack and Turnout!
But things got even better in the competition for the Area 5 challenge shield!
They smashed it, with brilliant riding they performed confidently and remained focused throughout the competition to win by a good margin of 6 points over the Berwyn and Dee.  Just brilliant – well done!

The Junior B team consisted of Members & ponies:
Sophie riding Missy, Maggie riding Orville, Jocelyn riding Strawberry, Arthur riding Sweetpea, Isla riding Mirry and reserve rider Phoebe.

This young team had their first valuable experience of “Area” and they made the most of it! They are displaying more confidence each time out and are setting the building blocks for future teams. Team trainer Randle has built this team from the beginning of the year and has done wonders getting them to the point that they can confidently ride at this level. I think the sweets after each race provided an excellent incentive! They were all very proud of themselves and finished in high spirits.  Very well done.

Pairs:
Finally, Cheshire Hunt South member Alicia, riding Adele, teamed up with Helen from the Flint and Denbigh to make their debut as a pair. We had no idea how this was going to pan out as they have only practiced together a handful of times…..
However, they worked together like they had done it all before. They were amazing and finished in 2nd place also qualifying for the next round at Zone. What a fantastic achievement, well done girls!

A huge overall well done to all of our dedicated CHS team riders (and parents) and the wonderful ponies. It takes a lot of practicing and commitment to get results like these but it’s worth all of the effort!
Looking forward to more competitions over the next few months with the Zone finals in July in our minds.

Again a very proud trainer.
Claire