NSEA National Championships, Keysoe
We took a squad of 9 riders to the nationals just before half term for the finals for show jumping and JWS (jumping with style).
The mini showjumping class went first and the team of Bo, Charlotte, Lily and Willow all rode well and finished team 11th from 27 teams.
We had 2 teams that had qualified for the Mini JWS finals. The white team of Charlotte, Georgia, Rose and Bo. It was a good experience for this team at their first championships.
The purple team of Lily, Willow, Molly and Daisy all rode confidently over the course of 17 fences showing a good style and transition from show jump to cross country. This is a competition that is judged on style as well as faults and the end of their round finished on a team score of 26.8. Willow had an individual score of 1.9 penalties which was the best of the class. The team placed 2nd and they all won a very smart new numnah. Willow won the class on the day.
On the Friday it was the novice classes, 85/90cm SJ where we had 1 team qualified. This was a very strong class with 42 teams entered. Molly, Willow, James and Charlotte all rode well but a couple of poles down meant they had a team score of 8 which left them in 17th place. This was a good result as only 5 teams finished on a zero score and 7 teams were eliminated.
The next class was the 85/90 JWS, again we had 2 teams who qualified for this. The white team of Charlotte, Georgia, James and Rose all tried hard with 2 completing the course. The purple team of Daisy , Willow and Lily had to ride without Molly as her pony went lame and so could not compete but again a good experience for them all.
The team of Lily, Willow, Rose and Georgia competed in the Mini Eventers Challenge Qualifier for Hickstead next May. All again rode well on tired ponies (and riders) but they managed to win the class and Lily won as an individual so has qualified for the finals next year. Rose was 7th individually and Willow 8th.
On the Saturday, James had qualified for the 90/95cm finals as an individual and he rode a super double clear which gave him 21st place out of 164 riders and being one of the youngest in this class was a huge achievement.
