Young riders shine at state qualifying event

Young riders from clubs including Ararat, Don­ald, Horsham, Maryborough and Stawell battled it out to qualify for the upcoming state titles. See who made the cut.

THE Midland Zone of Pony Clubs is one of the most active in Victoria, and their young members have plenty of chances to meet up and compete.

The 20 clubs from Ararat, Bealiba, Beaufort, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Charlton, Don­ald, Harcourt, Hopetoun, Horsham, Maldon, Mandurang, South Marong, Maryborough, Neangar, Newstead, Nhill, Spring Gully, St Arnaud and Stawell have events held especially for their zone, but also to qualify for state titles.

Their qualifying event for the upcoming state showjumping and dressage titles to be held at Benalla next month was conducted just before Christmas.

With so many of the higher age members busy with VCE and employment, the fields in the A grade dressage sections are small and the winners ride as individuals at the state titles.

The top three placings in dressage in grade two, three and four go to the state as a team, representing their zone.

In showjumping the first four placed riders in B grade to D grade go to the state titles as a team representing their zone. The A grade showjumpers ride as individuals.

In the grade one dressage, the Neangar Club’s Steph Horton qualified to ride at the championships with good scores as did grade two’s Paris Fiedler from Horsham.

In grade three, Anna Sudholz from Horsham, in grade four, Asha Fiedler from Horsham, in grade five, Seth Pengilley from Mandurang and grade six, Violet Stephenson from Bealiba all finished at the top of their leader boards.

In the showjumping ring, Hannah Wigg from Ararat won the A grade jackpot, and Bendigo’s Holi Campbell was tops in the B grade.

Jasmyn Beesley from Mandurang South led the field in the C grade group and in D grade, Iris Sudholz from Horsham, in E grade, Courtney Dickerson from Horsham and in F grade, Hannah Creevey from Mandurang South were all successful.

The zone also held open sections, and in grade two dressage the winner was Mika Hanna, with Rebecca Eaton winning grade two. Sharon Robinson took out the grade-four win. In the teams competition, the Bealiba Brumbies team finished first, three points ahead of the Mandurang Souths’ Mandurang Maniacs, with Mandurang South’s Mandurang Mischief close behind in third, ahead of Horsham B team.

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