Equestrians shine during Sanesa Gauteng West Awards dinner

The South African National Equestrian Schools Association (Sanesa) held its first Gauteng West Awards Gala Dinner since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The awards dinner was held at Usambara Wedding Venue on August 8 and attendees saw recognition given to primary and high school riders in the various divisions such as show jumping, dressage, prix caprille, in-hand, working riding, and so forth. Riders from schools across the West Rand attended the event. The crowd enjoyed a wonderful speech by Springbok Equestrian Paul Hart as he reminisced about the ups and downs during his riding career.

He spoke about endurance and how through perseverance and hard work anything is possible.

“I want to encourage the young riders listening to me today to have a good education as a backup when becoming a professional equestrian! A bad fall might leave you with a broken arm and then you need something to keep you occupied during those months,” explained Hart.

Gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded as well as the overall top 10 riders in both primary and high school were announced.

The Top 10 primary school riders were, starting from 10th place, Danica Nel, Arabella Streymann, Kyla Courts, Molly De Witt, Teagan Knipe, Michaela Humphrey, Rosie Hall, Emily Loubser in third place, Isabella Igrec in second and first place went to Jonathan van Dyk (9).

For the high school riders, the following made the overall top 10: Jenna Brown in 10th place, Kate Jackson in ninth, Angeline Grab in eighth, Ashley Novello in seventh, Julia Priest in sixth, Mareli Wasserman in fifth, Chante Grobler in fourth, Leandri Meyer in third, Anika Grobler in second and first place went to Kendra Forsyth.