Spring Festival Showjumping Area 12 Qualifiers

The Annual Area 12 Spring Festival Showjumping Qualifier, held at Bury Farm last weekend was a great show to get all of our showjumpers out competing post Christmas and let riders (and grooms) have a jolly catch up.

The format this year was different with Clubs only allowed to enter teams of 3 and with only one team per class going through to the Championships, there was no wiggle room and certainly no place for error. It was a seriously tough format for competition for our kids.

There were 16 Teams in the 80cms with FPC entering 3 teams.  The Flamstead Snowdrops made up of Chloe I, Sienna S and Zoe H being our strongest team, coming 4th. Huge congratulations to Chloe Issott who rode her Freckles like a true pro and raced into an individual First position, thereby gaining a Qualification to the Championships next month.

The Bluebells, made up of Gwen C, Bella M and Holly H came 10th, suffering with 4 faultitus for 2 riders and a sat nav error for the 3rd.  Our 3rd Team entered, comprised of Jemima M, Penny R, and Chloe M on her retrained throughbred who is improving with every outing. The team suffered an elimination due to a fall but a special shout out should go to Penny Reid who rode a beautiful clear on Timmy.  Annie Neil rode as an individual and raced round only clipping one pole, leaving her with a score of 4.

The 90cms Class had 17 teams entered with 10 teams unable to present 3 team scores.  Sadly, we were in this section due to various team members withdrawing and or retiring.  Individually, Bella Monico on her lovely mare, Sylvie jumped a graceful and steady clear, allowing them to come 4th and qualify for the Championships! Huge well done to her as the competition was fierce and only 5 riders qualified  individually.  Our other riders, Federica, Holly H, Penny R, Jess R all had four faultitus and Chloe, an unlucky 8.

The 1m had 8 teams entered and our Crocus team made up of Erin Neale, Isobel M and Maya T came team 4th with Maya jumping her new horse clear, Isobel getting an unlucky 4 faults and Erin 8. Maya T and her new horse were individually placed at 6th, narrowly missing out qualifying.

Our other team entered, the Hyacinths, made up Olivia F, Josie R and Amy V were unable to enter 3 scores due to a retirement however a special shout out should go to Josie R for jumping clear on her beautiful chestnut and to Federica, competing as an individual, for successfully competing at 1m for the first time with her new equine partner with a very speedy round and just the last down.

Happily, I can conclude this report with the 1.1m team results.  The 1.1 was an absolute success story for Flamstead  with Olivia F, Josie R and Maya T winning Team 1st for Flamstead.  Massive well done to them!  A special shout out needs to go to Erin and her grey superstar partner as they have literally just started jumping at this height and only had an unlucky 4 and were placed 7th individually. All should feel proud of their efforts.

Huge well done to ALL our riders in this competition, and although results were mixed with a tough competition format, there is some serious talent at our Club and we are very proud of all your hard work and training to achieve what you do.

Jules Laing

Showjumping Manager