Exciting celebrity jump and drive at FEI World Dressage
Get ready for some super fun and excitement at the FEI World Dressage Challenge's Celebrity Jump and Drive.
An exciting Land Rover Durban Celebrity Jump and Drive will add an extra element of fun and entertainment to the FEI World Dressage Challenge to be held at the Durban Shongweni Club from 14 to 17 October.
The event which commences at 2pm on Wednesday, 16 October, will see top show jumpers and local celebrities teamed up. The celebrities, which include the likes of John Smit, Butch James, Megan Coleman, Hank McGregor, Andrew Hill, will be paired up and complete a timed Precision obstacle course in a Land Rover, where upon completion of the course the driver will run to where the horse is, help their rider team mate to mount up and the rider then completes an eight 1.1m course of jumps. The team with the fastest time and least amount of penalties will take the R10 000 prize!
The FEI World Dressage Challenge which celebrates its 30th birthday this year, is a competition between Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa. Two certified international judges, Karin Kruger and Cristof Umbach, travel to these counties to judge up to 40 horses in each dressage category. In each of these categories which ranges from Preliminary up to Prix St George, two riders from each category are then chosen on the Wednesday to represent SA on the Thursday in the FEI World Challenge Competition. Once the results have been collated, an overall international result is achieved.
The winners of the Advanced and Prix St George sections will win a week’s training and accommodation in Germany, courtesy of Performance Sales International.
“In the 30 years of its existence SA riders have always performed extremely well, often walking away with the highest accolades in several of the divisions. This year there is a strong contingent of talented new young riders on imported horses, all of whom have high expectations,” said Bev Pendock, show organiser.
A first for South Africa, will be the use of an electronic scoreboard to give “live” each mark out of 10 as well as running percentages. The provisional percentage will be available seconds after the horse completes the test.
