A squad of nine Sandroyd School riders attended the nationals just before half term for the finals for showjumping (SJ) and JWS (jumping with style).
The Mini Showjumping class went first and Bo, Charlotte, Lily and Willow all rode well, finishing in 11th out of 27 teams.
Two teams had qualified for the Mini JWS finals. The white team (Charlotte, Georgia, Rose and Bo) had a good experience at their first championships.
The purple team (Lily, Willow, Molly and Daisy) all rode confidently over 17 fences showing a good style and transition from showjumping to cross-country. This competition is judged on style as well as faults and they achieved a team score of 26.8. Willow had an individual score of 1.9 penalties – the best of the class. The team placed 2nd and Willow won the class.
On the Friday it was the novice classes, 85/90cm SJ and sandroyd had one team qualified. This was a very strong class with 42 teams entered. Molly, Willow, James and Charlotte all rode well but a couple of poles down meant they had a team score of 8 which left them in 17th place (a good result when only five teams finished on a zero score and seven were eliminated).
In the 85/90cm JWS,two Sandroyd teams had qualified. The white team (Charlotte, Georgia, James and Rose) all hard. The purple team (Daisy, Willow and Lily) had to ride without Molly as her pony went lame and so could not compete but again a good experience.
Lily, Willow, Rose and Georgia competed as a team in the Mini Eventers Challenge Qualifier for Hickstead next May. All again rode well on now-tired ponies (and riders) but they managed to win the class and Lily won as an individual so she has qualified for the finals next year.
James had qualified for the 90/95cm finals as an individual and he rode a super double clear which gave him 21st place out of 164 riders – as one of the youngest in this class this was a huge achievement.
