Cayman first past the post in hosting equestrian event
The Cayman team at the Regional Jumping Challenge (L-R) Lea Rado, Chloe Fowler, Amara Thompson, Polly Serpell, Hannah Fowler and Jenna Boucher (Photo by Eve van den Bol)
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation (CIEF) recently hosted the inaugural Caribbean Equestrian Association (CEA) Regional Jumping Challenge (RJC), a competition created to give developing show jumpers of all ages the chance to measure their skills against other riders in the Caribbean.
Riders compete in their home countries on their own horses and ride a preset course twice at either 0.85m or 1.0m.
Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica will all host the competition before the end of the year but Cayman was the first of the four to launch the event.
Six riders entered the challenge, held at Cayman Riding School in Savannah — Jenna Boucher, Chloe Fowler, Hannah Fowler, Lea Rado, Polly Serpell and Amara Thompson.
Boucher rode two different horses, one at each height, and took top honours in both classes. In the 1.0m class, Boucher rode Edson Arantes MB, finishing ahead of Serpell on Sunday’s Edition and Hannah Fowler on Colette.
In the 0.85m class, Boucher placed first on Katrina, with Chloe Fowler second on Shirley, Rado third on Never Ending Story and Thompson fourth on Teddy.
For the Cayman riders, the scores of Boucher and Serpell in the 1m class and that of Chloe Fowler and Rado in the 0.85m class were added and put forward to be compared against the team scores of the other participating Caribbean countries, once their competitions have been held.
Meegan Slattery, riding Jack, took first in open jumping 0.6m class (Photo by Eve van den Bol)
The CIEF also ran open jumping classes at 0.6m and 0.7m, after the RJC was completed. This event gave the beginner show jumpers the opportunity to demonstrate their skills after the long summer break. Eva Muspratt on Oscar was first in the 0.7m class, followed by Kayla Godwin on Harry and Grace Bostock on Lucyanna. In the 0.6m class, Meegan Slattery was first on Jack, followed by Kayla Godwin on Harry and Shayla Ebanks on Beanie.
The next equestrian competition is set for 27 September, starting at 8am, when CIEF will host Event 2 of the FEI World Jumping Challenge at Cayman Riding School on Hirst Road in Savannah. Members of the public are invited to attend this free event.
Category: Equestrian, Sports
