Three Day Event Victory!

The new academic year is off to an incredible start, with huge success at the first NSEA event of the year. Hurst Equestrian student Emma G travelled all the way to Moreton Equestrian Centre, Dorset, for the NSEA 3 Day Event 80cm Championship. The show started on the Friday with the dressage where Emma and her horse, Sambourne Puzzle, put in a great performance achieving a score

of 33.5 which put them in 2^nd place in the early stages of the competition.  

On Saturday it was Cross Country day, but things were a bit different… This event is run with the traditional Roads and Tracks, and Steeplechase phases, alongside the more common Cross Country phase.  Riders started with a Phase A, the first of the Roads and Tracks, a 1km course with a time limit requiring horses to travel at a steady pace – every second over the time limit would incur faults. Phase B was the Steeple Chase, 1.1km over fences with the horses travelling at speed and a much tighter time limit than in Phase A. And finally, Phase C is back to a 2.2km Roads and Tracks course at a steady pace, again with a time limit. After these phases are completed, the horse and rider goes straight into a 10-minute holding box where they were checked by the vet – the horse’s heart rate had to fall below 80bpm within that time to be able to proceed to the Cross Country phase. This is a way of ensuring that all horses are warmed up enough for the Cross Country phase, as well as fit enough to complete the course. Emma and Sambourne Puzzle sailed through all these challenges without picking up a single fault, and then went on to complete the Cross Country course clear and comfortably within the time limit. This great day of riding meant that Emma finished Saturday still on her score of 33.5, and now in pole position.

Emma dressed to impress for the trot up!

The final day of competition started with a trot up in front of the Ground Jury to ensure that the horses were fit and well after the Cross Country day. Emma was dressed to impress for the event and Sambourne Puzzle passed the assessment without issue. Following this was the showjumping, with Emma earning the right to jump last due to her holding the lead. It was a tough course, with only one combination jumping clear, and Emma did unfortunately have one pole down. However, her excellent final score of 37.5 meant she won the championship title. A huge congratulations to Emma for this fantastic performance, well done!