Over the past few months, Year 9 student Darcy B has achieved impressive results in national and international showjumping competitions.
In March, Darcy won the Royal International Horse Show qualifier at Arena UK in Lincolnshire with her eight-year-old mare Pixie. She had only been riding Pixie for two months and led the event after two clear rounds. After a third clear round, in a six-rider jump off, she held onto her lead by a huge 5.59 seconds. As a result, she will take part in the JC Pony section final (for children under 16) at the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead in July. Hickstead, the world famous All England Jumping Course, was founded by Darcy’s grandfather and both her mother and father have won major classes in the international arena.
At the Sentower Park event in Belgium at the end of March, Darcy successfully competed in several classes, riding three horses – Pixie, Kunis and One Sahara. In the 1.15m two-phase, Darcy won the class riding Pixie and in the 1.25m Grand Prix, Darcy took third place on Kunis. She also achieved fourth place in the 1.20m class riding One Sahara and fifth place in the 1.25m class on Kunis, again. During the last week of April, Darcy competed in Compiegne, France as part of the GB squad. She also competed as part of Team GB in the Children on Horses category in Lamprechthausen, Austria during the first week of May.
Currently, Darcy is aiming for selection with Kunis in the Children on Horses category (12-14 years of age) at the European Championships, Italy in July. Kunis is owned by Lea Popely, the mother of Ella Popely – a Hurst student who tragically lost her life in a car crash when she was 18.
Alongside all this, Darcy is also producing her two 148cm ponies – One Sahara and BE Banksy – owned by Breen Equestrian, with the aim of securing a place on the GB Pony Team this year and a place on the European Championship team next year.
Read more about Equestrian at Hurst College
Learn more about the Royal International Horse Show