Two local pony club riders competed in the Pony Club Western Australia State Eventing Championships which were held at Dardanup Horse and Pony Club on the weekend of October 26 and 27.
Seventeen year old Chloe Broadbent and her horse, Classic Tartan, and twelve year old Nina Bercene riding Miss Polly Pocket, represented Wellington District Pony Club in the 65cm class with outstanding results.
The pair completed the three phase event which was held over two days, consisting of dressage, cross country and show jumping, with the winner incurring the least amount of penalties from the phases.
The dressage phase is designed to showcase the horse and riders movement and harmony together, with marks being awarded for suppleness and accuracy.
The cross country phase is a 2km timed event over natural terrain, with 20 jumping efforts including water complexes.
The aim is to complete all of the jumping efforts without any refusals and in the time limit allowed or penalties are incurred, testing the horse and riders endurance and stamina.
The last phase of the event is show jumping, which is designed to re-challenge the horse and rider combination after the cross country gallop. Poles can be easily knocked down to incur penalties.
Nina and Polly are only a new horse and rider combination and took on the challenge coming away with a second placing.
The pair finished on their dressage score of 27.5 penalties, just 1.1 points behind the eventual winner.
The pair went clear with jumping and time on cross country and show jumping.
They were placed 7th after dressage, 6th after show jumping and moved up to 2nd after the cross country phase.
This was a fantastic achievement as they were riding in a very large field against much older and experienced riders.
Chloe had a less than ideal lead up to the event with an injury setback, but proved to still be competitive in the class.
They progressively moved their way up the field after each phase and completed the event, placing just out of the top ten.
At the start of the cross country there was only 20 points between first and 30th placing, which is one refusal on course so it was anyone's game.
They should be extremely proud of their efforts as a third of the class failed to successfully complete the event.
The second placing for Nina tops off a remarkable year having achieved podium placings in various disciplines at state events this year, on three different mounts.
Riding Polly they gained a second placing at State Show Jumping Championships which were held in May.
She also placed fourth at the State Tetrathlon earlier in the year riding Judaroo Tabitha.
This event consisted of a horse jumping phase, running, swimming and shooting of a laser pistol with points being awarded.
Along with sister Marni, she was also selected in the South West Zone team for the State Active Riding Championships riding Silkwood Elysium where the team gained two fourth placings and a fifth placing in selected novelties.
The results of the riders from such a small and young club are a pleasing and exciting for the future.
The riders are now looking forward to the upcoming Collie and surrounding ag shows.
The next event for the Collie Horse and Pony Club will be a rally this weekend.
