Equine events heat up

The Dilmun Stables held its fifth In-House Show Jumping League Event on Friday. The weather was perfect and after the Eliminator competition last week all competitors were ready for another challenge.

Hussein Al Boosta designed the courses and gets a personal thank you from Mel, as she finally got round and cleared green on Billy, along with Julia Doorne on Tess and Sam Bicknell on Nelson.

Junior 1 was a speed class – 80cm with seven fences. Tutu appears to be specially designed for speed – a fabulous clear round in a rapid 29 seconds for Sami Mendes.

Hannah van der Eyken came in second place on Billy with a time of 33 seconds. Although Aimee Keen’s round on Sedona was a fast 31 seconds, she unfortunately knocked a fence which accumulated a time fault taking her into third place on 35 seconds. Charlotte on Magnum came in fourth place in 53 seconds.

Adult 1 was also a speed class with fence heights at 100cm. The five contenders for this course included two double combinations. Dani Shaw on Rangerino was placed 1st with a clear round in 35 seconds. Congratulations also go to Sharon Nicklin astride Mia Vita who completed the course in 33 seconds which placed her in second.

Nelson and Sam Bicknell teamed up, but unfortunately ‘Nelly’ refused at fence five twice and Sam was eliminated.
 
Fahad Al Dossari rode Tayar, coming in fourth with eight time faults and 41 seconds. Fran Downes and Lollypopman pipped Fahad to third with the same 41 seconds but having only accumulated four time faults.

Junior 2 and Adult 2 were one round courses with a jump-off. Sami Mendes and Hannah van der Eyken were both caught out in this round and did not advance to the jump off round. Aimee Keen on Sedona and Charlotte Gunby on Magnum were left to compete for first place. Aimee blasted through a complicated jump-off and cleared without any faults leaving Charlotte in second place.

Adult 2 saw the same course, with Fahad victorious on Tayar and Dani Shaw and Rangerino in second place. Fran Downes claimed third spot on Lollypopman and Hamad Fakhawri came in fourth also riding Tayar.

The next Dilmun In-House Show Jumping League event will be held on February 10.

TWIN PALMS Riding Centre held its third event of the year, also on Friday, with a combination of both Dressage and Show Jumping.

It was a beautiful day and ‘this is the reason we live here’ was a comment heard more than once!

The morning saw a hive of activity as one of the most outstanding features of these shows is the Best Turned Out Class.
 
Everyone is automatically entered and due to the number of entrants the points are high, which has seen many riders go to amazing lengths in order to present themselves and their mounts to perfection.
 
Pulling out all the stops this week was Ellie Henry and Twice As Nice. They achieved a well-deserved win. 

Keeping up appearances was Jan Hodgson who has been consistent in this class with Cash. The pair beat previous winner Nina Owen and Otto.

It continues to be a seriously difficult job to judge these riders and their horse/ponies because everyone makes so very much effort.

The dressage saw some new riders taking their first steps into the competitive arena with the Working Equitation Class, which was won by Jamiela Haseid riding Eid.

Young Aneesa Al Mahmood claimed second prize in not only the class but also second place in best turned out for her category. 

Another first time competitor was Julia Canseco, who claimed third in the Working Equitation.
 
Bella Rushton, competing with Aramis, took fourth. And, young Anae Dreyer came in fifth in the Working Equitation.

Manon Cote, astride Sirocco, took first place in the Preliminary A dressage, which moves her up a notch. She will now have to move to the Preliminary B class.
 
Nina Owen wowed the judges and beat off the competition in the Preliminary B dressage and took home another red first place rosette, this means she also has to move up to Novice from now on. Although Nina and Otto have recently been entering in the Novice class it has been just a case of testing the waters.

Yvonne Addison riding Chief and Anne Koheji riding Fine Art were winners in the final dressage classes of the day, namely the Novice and Elementary.

Once the dressage had got under way, the Show Jumping commenced. This started with the usual Clear Round Class, a warm-up for those more experienced riders, and an introduction for beginners.

Once again the Dreyer name came into the fore, with both mum Virginie riding Athos, and daughter Luna astride MissPrint, getting clear rounds.
 
Kat Rushton took both Duke and Banjo clear,  Lesley Taylor got the second of her clear round rosettes with Bailey, Keshia Smith took Onyx clear.  Melinda Cranage, went clear with Eid, and Paula Canseco rode a lovely round on India.

The second show jumping class of the day was a one round with jump-off. The class saw 14 riders take to the fray, but bringing in the big guns was vetran Anne Koheji who nimbly pipped all with agile Fine Art. With turns being his forte he went clear in the fastest time, the pair taking their second win of the day.

The final show jumping class was an accumulator. Muslim Ali riding Bailey, certainly gave everyone something to aim for, going clear in a time of 48.92 seconds, making the pair the winners.

An exhilarating and enjoyable day has left all in eager anticipation of the forthcoming TWIXSTEAD event to be held on February 17. This event will consist of classes where horse and rider have to complete all three riding disciplines: Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross Country, proving horse and rider to be true all-rounders.