The Cranleigh Equestrian team involves riders from both CPS and the Senior School competing alongside each other and several Prep riders joined their senior counterparts to compete at the National Schools Equestrian Association Championships at the start of half term.
Despite last minute lameness’s making last minute team changes necessary, and the weather being firmly against us for much of the weekend, all our riders rose to the challenges of each competition and enjoyed each other’s company along the way.
With 1200 combinations of riders and horses competing in the various classes over the four days, it was perhaps one of the most competitive Championships we have attended but our riders were undeterred by this from the start. It was wonderful to be back at Addington Equestrian in Buckinghamshire to enjoy their top-class, international facilities.
Day 1 saw the CPS riders take on two huge classes in both the Mini Show Jumping and the Mini Arena Eventing. 30 teams started the first round of show jumping with the top 10 going through to the final jump off in the Indoor International arena later in the day. We started the final in 9th place (therefore having to second as a team) but posting a team score of zero from Ete M; Rosie S; Gracie G and Sophia T meant the pressure was on the teams that had to follow us. As is often the case, the pressure grew and we moved from 9th to find ourselves on the podium in the silver medal position: a fabulous start to the weekend amidst great excitement from our youngest riders. This combination, with the addition of Lex N took a top 10 position in the Mini Arena Eventing too, as did our Novice team which included Sophia T and Lex alongside our senior riders.
Saturday saw Sophia, Rosie and Ete in action again. Having won the South East Regional Points League for 2023, we contested the regional final with a team of 8 riders all show jumping at different heights: all three riders jumped lovely clear rounds to help the team finish on a team score of zero although our overall time left us in 6th place in the final line-up. They then finished up their campaign by competing as just a team of three in the Novice show jumping which involved 44 teams from schools up and down the country. With all three scores having to count, it was going to be difficult to make an impact on the top order but an overall score of eight faults was a very creditable way to finish their first experience of the NSEA Championships.
The Senior School riders went on to win two national team titles, one national individual title and an individual silver, alongside top eight finishes in another five competitions right up to Advanced Open level.
At the start of the weekend it looked as though luck was going to be against us this year but our riders are nothing if not determined, rising to the challenges, supporting one another through the ups and downs and ultimately proving once more that our equestrian team is amongst the best schools in the country.
