After a successful year of competing, Hurst Equestrian qualified several teams for the NSEA Eventers Challenge Championships and Inter County Show Jumping Finals held at Hickstead Showground. The huge event was attended by schools from across the country.
The first day saw the turn of the 1m Eventers Challenge team consisting of Harriet B, Ralf B, Emma P, and Morten D, along with Harriet B competing again as an individual. It was a challenging course—a very difficult fence at the water complex caused most riders issues, and unfortunately caught out three of Hurst team. Morten, riding ‘Smartie’, had a fantastic clear round. It was an incredible achievement; of the 90 horses that jumped, only 22 completed the course without any faults! Harriet B also rode a beautiful round as an individual on ‘Rita’, but unfortunately took four faults in the show jumping phase.
Monday saw the turn of the 90cm team, with Harriet, Ralf, Olivia S, and Morten. Every member of the team produced fantastic clears, resulting in a final score of zero and 6th place in the Championships. Well done team! Hurst also saw great results in the showjumping; Lauren W won the round riding ‘Eloclea’, with a very fast round. The 1m team finished 6th on a challenging course, with an overall score of 8 points.
On the Monday, there was also a series of Show Jumping classes which saw riders qualify for the NSEA National Championships held in October. The 80cm team finished 3rd, only just missing out on a qualifying spot. Well done to Henry C, Isla A, Lars D, and Scarlet SH. A huge congratulations also goes to the 90cm team, consisting of Lars, Scarlet, Olvia S, and Luca C. They won the 90cm class and qualified for the Nationals! Well done to Luca too, who also finished in 5th place individually.
Hurst put two teams forward for the 1m qualifier, with team Hurst Red (Emma P, Harriet B, Lauren W, and Luca C) finishing victorious! Team Hurst Blue also jumped well, finishing in 3rd position and only just missing out on qualifying—well done Freddie L, Harriet, Morten and Ralf. Lauren won the class individually, qualifying herself for the Championships, and Harriet picked up 5th place. Hurst riders were also incredibly successful in the 1.10m pony class, with Lauren winning on ‘Eloclea’ and Morten coming 2nd on ‘Smartie’, qualifying both riders for the 1.10m pony individual Championships. In the 1.10m horse class Hurst riders sadly did not qualify, however Ralf B and Harriet B both produced lovely clears to finish 4th and 6th respectively.
“ The weekend was a huge success for Hurst Equestrian. Well done to all the Hurst students who attended the show; there was a lot of fantastic riding, and all students supported each other represented the college excellently. ” Tracey Pargeter, Head of Equestrian
