NSEA Championships

After a year of competition and qualifying classes, members of the Hurst Equestrian team headed to Addington Manor in Buckinghamshire for the NSEA (National Schols Equestrian Association) Championships. After success at local competitions Hurst qualified teams for every championship height for showjumping, from 70cm to 1.20m.

The competition kicked off with the 70cm championships on Friday, 18 October. The team all rode well but sadly finished outside the top 8 which qualified them for the next round, despite this, Izzy A also competed as an individual and her fast double clear was enough to qualify for the jump off and took 8th place.

Saturday 19 October was for the 80cm riders, with Hurst putting two teams and one individual forward. Hurst Red put on the pressure on early in the day, finishing on a score of zero with a good time. Hurst White finished on a score of 4 and a very impressive time – the fastest team time of the day. It was a long class with 43 teams competing, and over 70 individuals and unfortunately for Hurst white finished in 9th place, just missing out on qualifying. Hurst Red and Izzy were pleased to be through to the jump offs.

The 80cm jump off was very challenging and caused issues for many riders. Sadly, things did not go to plan for Izzy and her pony. However, three other individual finalists were also eliminated, demonstrating how challenging the course was and meaning Izzy finished in joint 6th. Student Emma was awarded the ‘Best of the Rest’ prize for her impressive round in the qualifying class, this award is given to the rider with the fastest time who was not competing as an individual.

Izzy also competed in the 90cm Combined training Championships on the Saturday. She did an excellent dressage test, scoring 67.88% which put her into a strong position. Izzy finished with 5 faults, resulting in her taking home 6th place. Her third rosette of the weekend! On Sunday 20 October the 1cm team showcased their impressive skills, with Danielle I and Emma G both producing beautiful clears, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be for the rest of the team.

The last day of the competition started with Harriet B riding in the 1.20m final. It was a challenging course, but Harriet did brilliantly and achieved 5th place. Next up was the last Championship for Hurst riders; the 1m Championship. Harriet B and Ellie A both jumped lovely clears, with Ellie’s fast time enough for her to qualify for the jump off as an individual. The team finished with a final score of 8 faults, and it was assumed that they had not qualified so everyone packed up to go home. However, about halfway through the 22-team class, Hurst was still comfortably sitting in a qualifying spot. As the class progressed teams just kept getting the faults and the team qualified for the jump off.

Harriet and Ellie both rode lovely clears again, with Ralf B and Olivia Sa getting four faults each, with the team finishing in 6th place. Ellie and her horse Carrick Cruise Chief jumped a fantastic clear round to finish in 5th place.

A huge well done to all students who competed for Hurst, they represented the school excellently and showed great support for each other. The riders all listened to the advice of team coaches Harriet Upton and Ash Boyce and rode excellently. The results really speak for themselves, as Hurst competed in ten Championship classes, achieving finalist results in seven of those. We had a lot of young riders experiencing their first big competition, so it’s very exciting to think about the results that we may get in the future as these promising students improve and grow.