Riders from Wellington School brought home the prizes when they competed at the National Schools Equestrian Association championships. Annabelle Jay, 14, took gold as the National Schools Champion and the Wellington team of four girls came a very respectable fourth in the entire UK.
Annabelle was riding her pony October and they jumped an excellent quick round in the 85cm show jumping and finished 3rd qualifying them for the final. The weather for the final was not ideal, the jumps were blowing over and spectators had to hold up the fences around the arena! Annabelle and October remained focused and went in to jump a super speedy round putting them in the top position, making Annabelle the winner and National Schools Champion
The show jumping team consisted of Emma Gibbins (Yr10), Annabelle’s younger sister Lara Jay, Ellen Cowling and Pip Williams (Yr7) for the mini 75cm Show Jumping Class. The team went on 2nd out of 30 teams to jump on Saturday morning in the first round. All 4 of the girls jumped clear rounds putting them in a good position.
They stayed in the top eight for the whole of the first round, so qualified for the evening final in the main indoor arena, which was an achievement in itself! The following day, they took part in the final round. Emma started the team off with an excellent quick clear round, unfortunately Ellen was unlucky to tip a pole, Pip’s pony Jack decided that the indoor arena was a little scary, and Lara managed another quick clear, so the team completed on 4 faults with a fast time and the Wellington girls finished in a very respectable fourth place.