In recent weeks our Equestrian team have participated in several competitions, representing Wakefield Girls’ with pride.

During the half-term holidays, Year 12 student Tilly represented us at the national championships at Addington on October 22nd and 23rd. Tilly and her horse Manny competed in both classes they had qualified for: arena eventing and showjumping, both at 105cm.

Both classes were held in the international indoor arena, and there was no arena acclimatisation available – this, combined with the bustling arena led to a spooky environment which caused Manny to be tense. Nevertheless they headed into the arena eventing on the Sunday, and initially jumped fantastically. Unfortunately, the atmosphere overwhelmed Manny, and he essentially fell over a fence and threw Tilly off. On Monday’s show jumping they persevered and maintained a positive attitude despite the previous day’s challenges; they did well, only tapping a pole to finish on four faults. Special mentions go to another of our riders, Year 10 student Florence, who acted as an excellent groom the entire weekend.

Subsequently, on November 5th, three of our riders headed out to Epworth Equestrian Centre for the NSEA Inter-Schools Showjumping. First to compete for the team in the 80cm was Florence and her pony Ted, who was there for his first show back since illness. They jumped a fabulous clear round to get us off to a great start.

Next Tilly and her horse Manny headed in, and they unfortunately just had a pole to leave them on four faults.

Our final rider, Year 12 student Isobel, then headed in on her horse Tilly, and they again jumped a clear round to leave the team on an overall score of 4, finishing fourth as a team. Individually, Isobel finished 13th, Florence 21st and Tilly 23rd out of a large class of 49. Tilly and Isobel then both competed in the 90cm class, where Isobel just had an unfortunate stop to finish on 4 faults to 24th and Tilly jumped a clear round to finish 15th, again in a large class of 49.

We are extremely proud of all our riders for their performances and for their dedication to their sport, we can’t wait to see how they progress throughout the year.

Miss C Dollive

Biology Teacher and Equestrian Team Lead