Showjumpers from the Lowveld, Liz-Marie Crous, Hanelize Kamffer and Kraai Kamffer, and their mounts reached amazing heights at the Showjumping Championships and Interprovincial Team Competition presented at the prestigious Stokkiesdraai in Brits last week.

These three were selected for the interprovincial team.

Top riders from all over SA entered the grades from 80cm up to the open 1.50m class. More than 300 horses competed in two arenas in the various grades every day.

The show started on Wednesday August 4 and ended with the main open team championship and the SA 1.50m open championship on Sunday.

Crous competed in the 90cm class on White Waters O Channary and she won two of her three classes on this feisty young mare. She also competed on Brandenburg Special Assignment in the 1m classes where she obtained two first places and a seventh place.

Kraai, a well-known coach and rider, competed in the 1.10m classes on her breeding stallion, White Waters O Lavey Shalih.

The 1.10m team of Mpumalanga, of which she was a member, won the silver medal in the team championships.

Hanelize, who is currently one of the top open riders in SA, competed with three horses. In the 1.20m classes she obtained a seventh and 13th place out of 87 horses on Brandenburg Sangiro.

The 1.20m Mpumalanga team, of which she was part, came home with a silver medal.

She rode Shadow Fly in the very competitive 1.35m classes. She won two of the three classes and had a 15th place in the last class which consisted of 78 of the top horse and rider combinations in SA in this height category.

She was also part of the open combined Mpumalanga and Limpopo team that claimed the silver medal in the SA Open Interprovincial Team Competition.

Hanelize also competed in the open 1.50m classes with the breeding stallion White Waters On Time. It was her first time in this prestigious event and she rode very well.

She was also by far the youngest rider in the class which consisted of the top riders in South Africa. Only 30 of the original 45 riders entered in this class qualified for the main championship on Sunday. Hanelize qualified 10th which was a phenomenal achievement.

She had an unfortunate 12 penalties in the first round and four penalties in the second round and ended overall 14th in the class.

“It was amazing to be part of this prestigious show and compete against the top riders in the country in all the grades. The Lowvelders certainly did not stand back one inch,” said Kraai.

The next big event will be the World Cup qualifier in Shongweni in KwaZulu-Natal where the Lowvelders will compete from September 1 to 5.