The art of the jump

North Coast riders and their horses embarked on the great trek to the Shongweni Club over the recent long weekends to take part in the annual Shongweni Show Jumping Festival.

The festival ran over two long weekends, offering a six day packed programme for riders and spectators to enjoy.

“The idea behind the festival was to give all grades and age groups a chance to compete in a ‘big show’ environment, without having to travel out of the province,” said the secretary of the Durban Shongweni Club committee, Troy Kernick.

Due to the large number of entries, the organizing committee had to run an extra arena every day in order to accommodate all participants.

The first weekend was a national status show and the regional show took place on the second weekend. A special addition was the Shongweni Grand Prix, which boasted fancy prizes and attracted the cream of the crop in show jumpers from around the province.

The following North Coast riders achieved top ten placements: Amanda Eardley, third in the 80cm class; Tanner Carlisle ninth in the 90cm class; Caitlyn Mayer second, Natalie de Wet forth and Cindy Rattray ninth in the one metre normal competition class; Kim Isaacs fourth and Anne Isaacs eighth in the one metre A2 competition class; Gwen Isaacs third, Natalie de Wet sixth and Jordin Boswell eighth in 1.10 metre class and Ann Oliff and Natalie de Wet achieved in the 1.20 metre class.