Three wins at NSEA Championships 2023

Hurst riders took three wins and numerous top placings at the NSEA Championships in Addington in October.

Over the course of the last year, Hurst riders have been working hard to qualify for the NSEA (National Schools Equestrian Association) Championships, which were held at Addington Equestrian Centre in Buckinghamshire from 20 to 23 October.

Hurst pupils have had a successful year in the qualifying classes, with individuals and teams qualifying at every height. Sixteen students made the journey to the championships with their horses and ponies, along with their family, Head of Equestrian Tracey Pargeter, Equestrian Assistant Sophie Rees, and Hurst Equestrian Trainer Candice Dunlop.

The show began on Friday morning with Izzy A and Thea O competing in the 70cm warm up class. Izzy produced a fantastic and fast clear with Lonarch which was a good enough for her to finish second. Thea also had a fast time, but a pole meant she was out of the placings.

The 70cm team, made up of Izzy, Thea and Rosie YJ, jumped well but a pole meant they finished on a score of 4 faults and were out of the top 8 placings.

Thea had also qualified as an individual, and her round was impressively speedy which meant that she finished 7th and qualified for the final with her horse Katie. Thea went on to jump a brilliant round in the jump off, finishing in 4th position in the 70cm Individual Championship.

Saturday started with early success. In the 90cm warm up class Lars D jumped a spectacular round on Kiki to finish in 2nd place.

In the afternoon, Lyla YJ jumped well in the first round of the 80cm championship - with her speedy clear she finished in 7th place, qualifying for the final. Lyla jumped another excellent round in the final and finished with a podium position of 3rd place.

The 1.10m Hurst team won their class in 2022 and returned to defend their title. Freddie L and Morten D both rode clears, with Harriet B also jumping well but sadly having an unfortunate pole at the last jump. The team finished on a score of 4 faults, however, the course proved challenging for other competitors and no team managed to beat Hurst’s result and they finished as the champions.

In the 1m warm up class Freddie did some daring turns and finished in 2nd place.

Harriet also competed in the final for the 1m Combined Training Class on Saturday. This is where competitors ride a dressage test, in this case Novice 28, and then also jump a course of fences. The scores are combined to produce the final result. Harriet finished in 5th place.

The 90cm Championship was held on Sunday, and proved to be one of the biggest classes of the show, with over 180 combinations competing in the class. Hurst put forward two teams for the for this final, however it was not their day with both teams finishing on a score of 4. Hurst Red finished as the fastest team with 4 faults, and for a while it looked like they might manage to sneak into the final, but they were just knocked out of a qualifying position towards the end of the class.

Lauren W had qualified for the 90cm individual competition after a fast round finished in the top 8 and qualified for the jump off later that day. Lauren jumped a phenomenal round with her amazing one-eyed pony, My Time IV, and became the 90cm Individual Champion.

Next came the 1.10m horse and pony classes, where there is a separate line up for the horses and ponies. Morten D did exceptionally well in both these classes. He jumped a beautiful clear on his horse Nimble to finish in the 3rd place in the horse section. Riding his pony, Smartie, Morten jumped well enough to finish 6th in the pony final.

On the final day of the Championships Freddie L jumped Cash Up in the 1.20m class. Freddie rode a fast clear early in the competition and no one was able to beat him. He then finished his successful show by qualifying for the 1m final out of more than 60 riders, and then going on to finish in 3rd position in the 1m Individual Championship. Freddie rode the fastest round of the class, but a pole meant he took 3rd as the fastest rider with 4 faults. Over the course of the show Freddie and Cash were members of the winning 1.10m team, won the 1.20m class, came 3rd in the 1m individual championship, and came 2nd in the 1m warm up class.

The Plate Championships - for teams and individuals who missed out on qualifying for the championship - was held on the Monday. Hurst put forward a team of three for the 80cm Plate Championship. The team did well, finishing in 5th position as the fastest team with 4 faults.

By the end of the weekend Hurst students had achieved top placings in almost all the classes they had entered and had final placings in every jumping championship they qualified for.

Students achieved:

- 1st places in the 90cm Individual Championships

- 1st places in the 1.10m Team Class

- 1st places in the1.20m Individual Class

- 3rd in the 80cm Individual Championship

- 3rd in the 1m Individual Championship

- 3rd in the 1.10m Horse Class

- 4th in the 70cm individual championship

- 5th in the 1m Combined Training Individual Championship

- 6th in the 1.10m Pony Class.

- 5th in the 80cm Plate Team Championship

- Three 2nd places in the warm up classes

A huge congratulations to all the students who took part in the championships and supported each other throughout the show. We look forward to the next year of qualifiers and doing it all again in 2024.