Driving up to the Meadows in the heavy rain did not bode well! Lo and behold…perfect sunshine (if a little cold and windy) upon arrival.
Once again, the 85cm team started the day for ERGS withTori Lilly riding Cloonhill Genius first again into the Arena. The pair had a strong round, jumping each fence cleanly and with great confidence. These two gave the team the best start of a double clear. In 2nd, was Tess Wallace and Rusty – this pair also had a super ride, with lovely jumping. Unfortunately, one pole was just tipped in the speed phase resulting in 4 faults. The final rider for this team was a first appearance at the Meadow’s (riding for ERGS) for Sophie Johnston and Ben. Despite only being in Year 8, Sophie produced a really excellent ride, lovely clean and confident jumping. One refusal in the second phase resulted in 4 faults – very unfortunate, as she was heading for a strong time. The team came 7th out of 14 where only 5 of the teams actually had double clear rounds. Proof of this being a tricky course on which our girls rode well.
Tess went on again later to jump in the 1m Open individual event. Once more, they performed really strongly, posting an extremely speedy time of just over 26 seconds. Unfortunately, a pole was knocked at the penultimate fence. Well done Tess.
The 75cm team competition began with hailstones!! Thankfully, by the time our team of Emma McCaldin on Katman, Isabelle Wallace on Bess, Molly Lee on George and Lily Moore on Izzy went on, the hail had stopped, and the sun shone once more! Phew!
Emma and Katman started the team off as gracefully as she did the previous event. The difference in the outcome was that her confident ride led the duo to a double clear.
Next in were Isabelle and Bess. This pair ride so well together that it looked seamless. As luck had it, she was just coming down from jumping fence 6 when she clipped a pole. 4 faults in phase 1. Her second phase was clear in a similar time to Emma’s 30 seconds.
Molly and George were 3rd into the Arena. After a bit of hesitancy at the first jump resulting in 4 faults (it was right beside the radio playing over the speakers), the duo rode very strongly. A super achievement after not wanting to jump this fence the last time.
Finally, we had Lily Moore on Izzy. This pair knew that the team had jumped well so far, so were able to relax and enjoy their round. This they did beautifully with the added bonus of them producing a super double clear. The team were given a final score of 0 due to no faults in the timed phase.
With 2 more teams to go after us, we were lying in 2nd position. The girls were delighted to know that they would get 4th position at least, so… imagine their delight when they kept this 2nd position by the end of the competition. Whoops of delight – the highest Team position ERGS has held since beginning this competition.
The support and camaraderie amongst all the team members and their families is excellent and makes this such a wonderful sport to be involved in. Congratulations to all riders and their ponies today. Thank-you also to the parents for bringing them.
Next date: Saturday 19th October – Week 4
(Report by R. McIntosh)
