Riding

We have had a very busy and successful year in the riding department with various events and competitions as well as lots of lessons and some pony club activities. The younger riders have been competing at NSEA grass roots show jumping and rode well in the qualifiers at local and regional level during the autumn term and qualified for the Championships at Hickstead. The senior riders have been successful at NSEA events and qualified for the Eventers challenge at Hickstead in May, won their class at the NSEA ODE at Stonar also in May and have qualified for arena eventing and show jumping classes at the Nationals at Keysoe in October. There was also our first dressage team qualifier which they won and went to the County finals at Hickstead in May. Read on for the reports.

Frances Cattell

Hickstead Grass roots Championships August 2022

We had 10 riders at Hickstead in August for the Grass Roots Championships and they didn’t let us down. There were 3 rings running. A very long hot day but everyone was very happy at the end if a little tired and dirty!!

The team of Bo, Poppy, Margot and Harry won the 40cm class by a huge margin. This was judged on style and the way of going and they were 28 points ahead of the second placed school. Bo was also individual 1st, Harry 3rd, Margot 6th and Poppy 11th out of 35 riders.

Next the 50cm class, the team of Bo, Margot, Poppy and Gigi won this class too. This was against the clock and they were 3 seconds faster than the second placed team. 64 riders in this class and all our riders were in the top 20. More champion sashes for them!

Later in the day Harry, Poppy, Georgia and Olivia C rode in the mixed height class and came 5th as a team.

There were also show jumping qualifiers for Keysoe in October and some good results in this ring too. The 70/75cm class was very competitive and the team of Molly, Olivia, Georgia and Charlotte rode well and finished 4th as a team and Molly won the class so qualified for the champs as an individual.

In the 80/85cm Molly, Charlotte and James won the class with the only team going clear so qualified for Keysoe at this height and James was 4th and qualified as an individual.

In the 90/95cm class Molly and James rode as individuals and both went clear with James coming 3rd so he qualified at this height too.

NSEA ISODE qualifier - Stonar School 21st May 2022

We had 3 teams entered for Stonar ODE which is the biggest number representing Sandroyd in this competition.

In the 8-11yrs Willow, Rosie, Rose and Bo all rode well in the dressage, a couple of fences down in the show jumping and 3 good clear rounds on the cross country.

In the 12-15yrs there were 2 teams. The Purple team consisted of Daisy, Molly, Will and Lily and the White team of Olivia, Grace and Virginia. All 7 riders rode well in the dressage. In the show jumping they had 6 clear rounds and then cross country all tried hard with most completing the course.

The younger team of Bo, Willow, Rose and Rosie won the class with the Purple team in second place. Individually, Willow 10th, Rosie 8th, Rose 7th and Lily winning the class in 1st.

Hickstead Eventers Challenge and County Dressage Championships - May 2022

Some very excited riders left school on Friday at the beginning of half term with their ponies and parents for the journey to Hickstead in West Sussex for the NSEA Championships.

The ponies were taken for a short ride in the evening and then put to bed for the night. Meanwhile burgers and sausages were cooking in one of the lorries and supper was eaten whilst a cricket game was being played. The only equipment was a bat so the stumps consisted of 2 shavings bales and the ball was a bandage wrapped in a sock (well done Will!)

It was a big class of 37 teams (271 individuals) which started at 9am and finished at 5pm.

Will, Molly, Daisy and Lily were up and ready on their ponies by 8.30am. Having warmed up they then went to the ring and all rode very well, a couple of poles gave them a team score of 4. The team dressage was up next with the team of Molly, Daisy, Lily and Grace. This is the first time ever Sandroyd has had a dressage team and it went well, with the team finishing 8th and our first ever dressage champs rosette.

Grace, Rose, Rosie and Willow then completed the Eventers round. Again they all rode well and finished with zero score which meant it came down to the team nearest to the optimum time. The team finished in 10th place and the first team was 16th.