Junior Champions at Hickstead!
On Thursday 27 June, our Junior and Senior teams travelled to Hickstead (the home of British Showjumping), for the 60th National Schools Jumping Championships.
Five teams were entered initially, but a few injuries and other issues meant that we had one Junior team (Alicia D, Rose D, Bethan R and Isi L) and two Senior teams (Liv K, Dandi P, Madita W and Ruby B, and Scarlet R, Meg P, Rachel N and Isla F). Daisy G was also entered as an individual and team reserve.
Friday was a fantastic day of jumping. Some tricky and technical qualifying courses caused a few problems throughout the day, and clear rounds were hard to come by. However, our Juniors made it through to the final with Alicia delivering a super clear on her young horse.
The Senior class also had some challenging fences, resulting in very few clears. Nevertheless, both Senior teams rode very well with one of our Senior teams qualifying to jump in the main ring. Individually, Dandi, Daisy and Ruby all qualified with clear rounds. A huge thank you to Daisy who had a last-minute call-up to fulfil her team reserve spot, as Meg's horse sadly bumped himself overnight and could not compete. It was a bit of a rush to be ready in time to take Meg's place!
Now to the Finals... Rose was first up with a beautifully ridden clear, only discovering afterwards she had missed a fence in error. The pressure was on for the rest of the team but they all rode their socks off and pulled off three faultless rounds. A commendation to Isi who was last to go and was quite possibly the youngest rider of the class!
Myself and Miss Chilcott were nervously adding up the scores of all the other competitors and then the news came through... The Stonar girls had won the Championship! They were the only team to finish the finals with 3 clears, and the team spirit these riders showed was excellent - supporting each other and remaining calm throughout, as well as giving the most professional social media interview following their win (they are clearly naturals)! It also should be noted that we haven't won the Junior championships at Hickstead since 1996!
There was not much time before the Senior team were in, with Dandi producing another clear and Ruby receiving an unlucky 4 faults. Liv and Madita's horses found the atmosphere a bit overwhelming, but this is all good learning for next time. The girls received 10th place and the prize giving was great to be a part of.
Towards the end of the day, it was Daisy's turn to compete for her individual placing. A super round but two unfortunate mistakes right at the end, which unfortunately put her out of the running.
We arrived home at Stonar about 9pm with some very tired pupils and horses, but what a fantastic and exciting day. An unforgettable experience for all!
- Equestrian