EQUESTRIAN

LEVELS                                                                                                                 

Year 7-13  

TERMS                                                                                                                      Terms 2 and 3  

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Sandalwood Trophy

Two Craighead equestrian teams has a fantastic day recently at the South Canterbury Pony Clubs Sandalwood Trophy Interschools Dressage and Show Jumping competition.

Craighead had individual placegetters in both Dressage and Showjumping and the Blue team of Cate Lightbourne, Lydia Hanrahan, Greta Dale, Sophie Martin and Eve Andrews were placed second overall.

Green team were Maggie Moore, Greta Murray, Annabelle Murray, Zoe Dupont and Sophie Smith. 

Equestrian 2024

Huge congratulations to 15 year old Molly Smith who took out the NZ Pony of the Year title at the prestigious Land Rover Horse of the Year Show in Hastings on Sunday.

The highly anticipated and coveted Somerset Fair Trophy was decided in a captivating three-way jump-off. First competitor out, Molly laid down the challenge to the class of 25 riders, with a beautiful clear round, stopping the clock in 46.02 seconds on her gorgeous grey pony, Kabo Fortune Cookie. No one was able to match her, and she claimed victory. Molly was offered the ride on Cookie after her own pony, Vapour Trail NZPH, the current national points series leader and South Island Pony Grand Prix winner, unfortunately went lame. She showed what a super talented young rider she is by winning the Pony of the Year title on a relatively unfamiliar ride. We wish her the very best of luck with her future equestrian pursuits."

Geraldine rider Molly Smith was first out aboard her new ride Kabo Fortune Cookie and knew she had to go clear and fast to put the pressure on Emily Oliver (Kapiti Coast ) aboard Doctor Jones, and Jade Miller (Canterbury) aboard Eleanor Rigby.

She posted the perfect result, going clear in 46.02 seconds. Next out was Jade who had two down in her 45.25 second round, followed by Emily Oliver who dropped the first fence to finish on four faults in a speedy 43.73.

In winning the Pony of the Year, she has her name added to a very special list of riders on the Sommerset Fair Cup.

Equestrian

There were a group of Craighead girls who competed at the equestrian Show Jumping National Champs held at the National Equestrian Centre, McLeans Island, Christchurch 21st to 24th Mar 2024. Riders gave it their all against strong competition and included Kayla Allington, Greta Dale, Evie Dale, Sophie Grenville-Jones, Annabel Hutton, Poppy Slater, Zoe Slater, Sophie Smith and Molly Smith. Congratulations to those who achieved success during the show.

Notable championship results (top 6 finish) are:

Show Jumping:

90cm Pony Emerging Talent Challenge

(overall places after 5 rounds):

Greta Dale 2nd 

Kayla Allington 4th (won Round A) Kayla also won the Canterbury Show Jump Series Pony 1m, which was run over their three shows during the season.

1.10m NZ Pony Championship

Sophie Smith – 2nd in Round A

1.20m to 1.35m NZ Pony Championship

Molly Smith 5th

TiES Jumping Futurity Series Final 1.10m Horse

Annabel Hutton: 2nd 1.10m warm up round Thursday, 2nd South Island Ties Series Finals 1.10m Saturday, and won the 1.05m on Sunday.

NZ National Junior Rider Series 1.20-1.30m

Molly Smith 2nd

Show Hunter:

Poppy Slater:

Equitation Championship Rounds 4th and 2nd

Cat C HOYQ 90cm 4th

Handy Hunter Cat C 90cm 3rd

Cat C Pony Title HOYQ 90cm 3rd

Zoe Slater:

Equitation Championship Rounds 4th

Cat C Ponies Intro 80cm 4th,

Cat C HOYQ 90cm 5th

Handy Hunter Cat C 90cm 6th

Evie Dale:

Handy Hunter Cat B Championship HOYQ 80cm 2nd

Cat B Ponies Intro 70cm 5th

Canterbury One Day Event

Members of the Craighead Equestrian team recently competed in the Secondary Schools Canterbury One Day Event at McLeans Island. We had two teams – CDS Blue Cate Lightbourne, Lydia Hanrahan, Sophie Smith and Annabel Murray and CDS Green which was also a composite team of Abi Hyslop, Poppy Slater and riders from Middleton Grange and Riccarton High.

Congratulations to the CDS Green Team of Abi Hyslop, Poppy Slater, Mischa Vaughan ( R. H.S) and Nicole Irving ( M.G) on coming 5th overall. Some excellent dressage and cross country riding in what was a very wet, cold and trying day.

CDS Blue started well and Cate Lightbourne and Sophie Smith finished the day on their dressage scores but the cross-country component was not to be for Lydia Hanrahan and Annabel Murray, resulting in eliminations.

SISS Equestrian Championships

Congratulations to the Craighead Equestrian team who were Runner Up in the SISS Equestrian Championship at McLeans Island. A very impressive feat considering they were only a team of five and many schools had up to 15 - 20 riders.

They were 2nd in the CTR, 1st in the Arena Eventing (for the 2nd year in a row)  and 2nd Team overall for the competition.

Team Members were: Ella Haywood, Lydia Hanrahan, Cate Lighbourne, Greta Murray and Sophie Smith.