At Omagh Academy Show today, we had a fabulous set of entries from our pupils.
We were able to enter two Intermediate teams and three 1m OpenTeams. Teams were as follows:
INTER
ERGS ONE: Isabelle Wallace + Georgie
Katie Nevin + Brosna Jack’s Gold
Tori Veitch + Heroe’s silver
ERGS TWO: Emma McCaldin + Katman
Lily Moore + Izzy
Sophie McCann + Casper
Lly Sayers + Silver
1M BALMORAL QUALIFIER
ERGS YELLOW: Sophie McCann + Molly
Molly Lee + Boomerang
Sophie Johnston + SJ Thunder
Imogen Heap + Chico
ERGS RED: Chloe Cathcart + Winnie
Sophie Johnston + Lily
Maeve Rolston McAuliffe – Clashadoo Jay
Molly Lee + Manny
ERGS NAVY: Chloe Cathcart + Ted
Ruby Moore + Ballydoyle Pepsico
Tori Lilly + Cloonhill Genius
All of the riders acquitted themselves extremely well with a first run-out for Lily Sayers at the inter Level.
The inters had the weather with them which was a bonus. A tight course with many teams having riders getting some poles down or refusing jumps and others completing the course with little to no errors. We had a mixed bag within our two teams, yet we still managed to have Isabelle, Katie and Tori placing 6th out of 13 Teams. An excellent achievement and Rosettes to boot!
The weather had taken a turn for the worse by the time the 1m teams were on. However, undaunted, they warmed up their ponies and got stuck in. The course had not only gone higher but had changed its mapping. This left it quite hard to facilitate any tight turns in an effort to add some speed.
Again all of the teams in the competition had varying degrees of success or misfortune. Very few having double clears. Again, our three teams faced these circumstances. However, ERGS Red rode very well and placed 4th out of 17 teams, no mean feat at this level of competition. Congratulations to Omagh Academy who won the event and have gained a coveted place at the Balmoral Show.
As an extra bonus, Chloe Cathcart rode Winnie in a very speedy double clear and managed to place 5th Individual out of the 17 teams and 40+ Individual riders ( total of over 100 riders).
A superb effort by all of our young riders today.
A special mention to all of those who have now completed 3 of the 5 possible Balmoral Qualifier events to date. A lot of time and effort being made by parents, grandparents or instructors to get these riders to the weekend events. All of this in their bid to gain one of the 5 places available to the Ulster schools for the Bluegrass Horse Feed Schools Show Jumping Open Team Championship at the Balmoral Show in May.
Next event will be at The Meadows for the St Patrick’s Day show. We wish them all well.
