Stage set for show!

Twin Palms Riding Centre held a seminar hosted on Wednesday by Mohammed Abdulla Dadulla on ‘How to Build a Show Jumping Course’.
 
The event was a great success, with explanation being given to the thought that must go into any show jumping set-up prior to even putting up a fence. The location, the size and shape of the arena, the ground and where the judges sit were just a few of the considerations.

This moved on to the different types of fences, how they are constructed, and the basic rules while erecting them. The advice was supported by pamphlets and a PowerPoint presentation.

Moving outside to the practical side of building a show jumping arena with a basic course plan in hand, participants put up fences, walked and marked out distances and ensured all the structures were aesthetically pleasing.

It was a valuable and extremely interesting seminar, and the ground was now ready to stage a show jumping event the following day, giving the creators the opportunity to jump their own course.

Thursday was the big day for the Twin Palms in-house show jumping event. The afternoon started off with a Clear Round Class, with fences up to 70cms.

The riders all did exceptionally well, and the majority went on to perform excellent clear rounds. The judges witnessed some superb little riders all wanting to give it a go and in my opinion these were the next show jumping champions in the making.

The next class of the afternoon was a One Round with Jump-Off with the fences now raised to 80cm. Of the 16 competitors 10 went clear into jump-off.

There were some really fast times in this jump-off with everyone taking deftly-calculated risks in a determined bid to win, but ultimately it was Kate Addison who rode a perfect clean, fast round on WestWind to take the class.

Ulrika Niedermeier on the lovely Skinny also completed a great clear to take runners-up position, and in third place Lucy Lunt Bell on Rakard thoroughly enjoyed themselves and fairly flew around the course.

As the evening started to draw in the final class was staged. The Accumulator, with a Joker standing at 100cm, attracted around a dozen riders. It was a fast and challenging class – with an imposing joker. However, it was my very talented Loki who took it in his stride to win the class … I love my horse even if we did demolish a fence and end up on the floor in competition on the following day - see pages 12 & 13!

Claiming her second, runners-up position of the afternoon once again was Ulrika who had steered Skinny expertly round the course. 

Young Bella Rushton skilfully manoeuvred Bailey to claim her second rosette of the day, a third place. This is certainly a pair to watch for the future.

* If you have any equestrian stories to share, email: HelenTooHotToTrot@hotmail.com

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Twin Palms Riding Centre In-House Show Jumping results
Class One – Clear Round: Pippa Fourie/ Soda, Jamiela Haseid/ Nafa, Gina Fourie/ Bingo, Erin/ Eid, Hussain Jamali/ Mandella, Anne Dunlop/ Darius, Maryam Al Khalifa/ The Chief, Kia Balet/ The Joker, Felicia Koithan/ Eid.

Class Two – One Round with Jump-Off: 1st Kate Addison/ WestWind, 2nd Ulrika Niedermeier/ Skinny, 3rd Lucy Lunt Bell/ Rakard, 4th Bella Rushton/ Bailey, 5th Melinda Cranage/ Nafa, 6th Audrey Maingot/ Banjo.

Class Three – Accumulator with Joker: 1st Helen Blake/ Loki, 2nd Ulrika Niedermeier/ Skinny, 3rd Bella Rushton/ Bailey, 4th Kate Addison/ West Wind, 5th Lucy Lunt Bell/ Rakard.