I am indebted to Candy Robbins for submitting the following report of the jumping at Golden Cross on 4th March. Well done to all concerned!
The Branch entered 5 teams at the Eridge Interbranch show jumping competition held at Golden Cross on 4th March. Who said there was a water shortage? Members encountered continuous rain, strong wind and the temperature dropped rapidly as the day went on – what toughies SDHE are!
The mini mini and mini teams had a tough competition over the new style single phase, meaning a long course to memorise with the second half against the clock. This caused a number of competitors taking the wrong course and with the jumps well up to height; there were not many clear rounds. Well done to our members for keeping their heads and composure.
Our mini mini team of Ella Farnes riding Definitely Maybe, Isobel Pennington riding Schmoo, Matthew Perry riding Harvey and Charlotte Hutt riding Murray came 4th with our mini team of Jasmine Pearce riding Taboo, Flo Evans Thomas riding Jazz, Evie Pope riding Martini and Livvy Logan coming 5th. It was great to see some new faces making their first appearance in a competition for the branch.
The mixed pairs saw some fierce competition with 17 combinations taking part. Well done to Xanthe Fairhead riding Zac and Greta Israel riding Princess Sapphire for coming 2nd and Chloe Fry riding Del and Beth Giddings riding Perfect Pete coming 4th. Well done also to Hannah and Millie Forman taking part in their first competition for the branch.
By now the “warm up” arena resembled “The Somme” and our beautifully turned out horses were getting blacker by the minute, as well as theirs riders getting soggier!
We had 2 teams entered in the small novice with our Blue team of Beth Giddings riding Perfect Pete, Emma Robbins riding Charlie Chalk, Chloe Fry riding Del and Jessica Copsey riding Evie coming out victorious in a very close competition. Our Red team of Xanthe Fairhead riding Zac, Daniel Dickens riding Toby, Charlotte Burden riding Everything’s Rosie and Grace Black riding Howells Bank Chocolate Minnie came 3rd. The top three teams all finished on clear round scores with the placings being decided by the times. Beth and Perfect Pete came 2nd in the individual and Emma and Charlie Chalk came 6th.
Sadly the novice team had to withdraw as one member fell sick on the day and one horse was injured in transit to the show. Romney Marsh also had to withdraw leaving just 2 teams to contend. However, our remaining 2 members flew the flag for the branch with Beth and Perfect Pete winning the individual and Sophie Duffield riding Amber coming 6th.
In all SDHE had 4 team placings, 2 pairs placings and 4 individual placings – a superb effort by all our riders and horses.
A huge thankyou to all our riders and supporters for staying the course in such grotty weather, especially Melissa and her Mum who had been there since first thing and for their delicious cakes.
Everybody remained full of good humour and made for a great team atmosphere.
WELL DONE EVERYBODY!
Our next event will be at Golden Cross on 14th April for the East Sussex PC interbranch competition.
Candy.