Winter SJ 2018

Winter Novice SJ Qualifier

It was a lovely cold bright sunny morning for the Novice Show Jumping qualifier at Wix. Unfortunately our junior team went down to one rider a new member Ellie Harrington and this was her first event for us. She enjoyed the experience and had two good rounds.

When the junior teams were completed it was time for the warm up class before the qualifier. We had three qualifying teams Red team : Molly, Shirley, Julia & Sue Leggett. Green team: Maddie Girling, Joe on Solly, Hanna Norris and Shirley who stepped in at the last moment on Raffi. Yellow team: Joe on Willow, Sarah Chaplin & Lisa Kenyon, unfortunately Natalie pulled out at the last moment.

Red team first to go all had great rounds and finished on zero score. Green team unfortunately had a few problems with Maddie and Joe having a couple of stops and polls rolling and Hanna and Shirley with 4 faults. Yellow team also rolled a few poles. At the end of the first round there were only 2 teams on zero score us and Halesworth. In the second round Molly, Shirley and Julia all went clear, sadly Sue rolled a pole but that did mean we still finished on a zero score. Sadly the Green and Yellow teams did not finish on a score or get a placing but they all enjoyed the day.

It was a tense wait at the end of the competition , we thought we had won but needed confirmation. It was finally announced and yes we were in 1st place and off to the Championships.

Well done to all who represented the club.

Winter Intermediate SJ Qualifier

We hosted the Area 14 Intermediate show jumping qualifier at Topthorn on the 25th February, it was an early start and a cold one, we had good entries so we knew it was going to be a long day. Sue Peasley came early and built the course for us.

We started with an 80cm Open warm up class which was single phase. At the end of the class we started the 90cm Junior team and individual class, unfortunately we didn’t have a junior team entered.

Next there was a 90cm Open class, single phase again then onto class 4 the 90cm Senior Team and Individuals, we had two teams entered, Finn Valley Blue had Emma Sayer going first having 4 faults, followed by Isabella Stagg with 8, Ann Corke 4 faults and Joe Mace unfortunately got eliminated; Smartie was not in the mood to jump! The second round Joe decided not to jump and the others all rolled a pole so no placing for them.

The Red team consisted of Danielle Lawrence a new member who had a lovely clear round, Ruth Everard 8 faults, Louise Thompson another clear and Jenny James 8 faults. The second round Danielle did another lovely clear with the others rolling a pole, the team came 6th.

Next class was the 100cm warm up and then followed the 100 Junior/Senior Team and Individual class. We had one team Finn Valley yellow with Sarah Chaplin riding first unfortunately a few poles fell, Pip Davies was next and she has a lovely clear, Wendy Lewis a new member unfortunately rolled several poles, last to go was Dulcie Wade who had a lovely clear. In the second round again poles unfortunately fell but at the end of the day the team came 4th; so well done.

Finally it was the turn of the 110cm Junior/Senior team and Individual class, we unfortunately only had 3 in our team as Natalie had a nasty fall the week before and had to withdraw. The Finn Valley Purple team consisted of Rosie Stevens and James Smith who both did lovely clears, last to go was Milly Butters who sadly had 8 faults, in the second round Rosie again went clear, James had 12 faults and Milly 4. The team came 3rd and Rosie came 3rd Individually and qualified for the championships.

Well done to all the teams we are very proud of you. Thanks you also for all the people that helped on the day and for Roy, Mary and Carole for being the judges. Thank you also to Julia for doing the entries and for answering all the queries before and on the day.

Report by Barbara Smith