It was an incredibly busy and exciting half term for our talented equestrians who competed in two NSEA events, The National 2021 Championships (22nd – 26th October 2021) held at Keysoe International and The County Dressage Qualifiers at Bury Farm (29 October 2021).
The 2021 National Championships at Keysoe
The Nationals were held over four days, where school teams had travelled from all over the UK and Ireland to compete in show jumping, dressage & combined training (dressage and show jumping). There were more than 500 horses on site so it was a truly exciting Championship atmosphere with some of the popular show jumping classes having in excess of 200 competitors.
In the Dressage, Violet Whitaker (Year 6) impressed with her pony, Precious. She competed in the Individual Prelim Final to finish 9th in an incredibly strong section. Violet and Precious also helped the Team Dressage finish 14th Nationally, with team mates Jess Yeoman (Year 9) with Jazz and Holly Maudlin (Year 9) with Party
In the Combined Training event, competitors ride a dressage test and a show jumping round, the scores are combined to establish winners. Jess Yeoman and Jazz finished an amazing 3rd in the Prelim 75cm class.
The BGS equestrians had a strong team in the Show Jumping event, with teams and individuals qualifying for the 80cm, 90cm and 100cm classes. These were hotly contested classes and luck wasn’t on our side. The riders had a great weekend and enjoyed supporting each other across all disciplines. It was also great to have side-line support from Mrs Gibson (Headmistress) and Mrs Mason-McLeod (Director of Sport) cheering them along.
Riders
Violet Whitaker (Year 6) and Precious
Jess Yeoman (Year 9) and Jazz/Frank
Harriet Gates (Year 11) and Henry
Emily Armitage (Lower Sixth) and Belle
Ellie Mullan (Year 10) and Cooper
Holly Maudlin (Year 9) & Maia/Party
County Dressage Qualifiers at Bury Farm
The County Dressage Qualifiers covered schools throughout the Home Counties. BGS riders Charlie Smith (Year 5) and Bandit and Harriet Gates (Year 11) and Henry. Violet Whitaker (Year 6) was poorly on the day so had to withdraw, which was such a sad loss to the team as they are such a strong combination.
This was Charlie’s first NSEA dressage competition and they handled the big atmosphere like true professionals and completed a very good test.
Harriet and Henry finished 5th in the Prelim section and 1st amongst the Bedfordshire schools and were crowned Bedfordshire County Championships. They now go through to the National County Championships in Spring 2022. This is such a wonderful achievement for the new combination as they have only been together since September.
