On the 10th of June, my ponies, (Thistledown Lady Cath and Nauprins Picola) and I departed for Joburg to take part in the SA Pony Riders Championships. After a very long and tedious drive…. we all arrived safe and sound, ready to perform to the best of our ability. And that is exactly what we did!! On the first day Picola had her dressage for the eventing: which unfortunately didn’t go so well, so we were lying quite low in the placings but we were ready for the x-country and show-jumping the next day. Candy (Lady Cath) had the team show hunter and behaved impeccably and we won for WP! (The only team showing event Gauteng didn’t win) so from that the WP showing team came 3rd overall.

So from that great stat to the show the rest of the show followed in the same manner: Picola went clear in her x-country and show-jumping and came 6th. Candy did the individual show hunter and won that too! Picola also went clear in most of her jumping competitions and was in the winning CD (80cm) team. Candy also came 3rd in the intermediate equitation, 3rd in the individual show riding and from her brilliant dressage scores qualified for the individual dressage champs and came 6th out of more than 100 ponies. Then in the dressage team competition, Candy also behaved and did a really nice test and WP came 4th.

After Candy’s great performances everyone wanted to but her… so I sold her to a very good little rider from Gauteng. So our journey home was extremely sad and lots of tears were shed. But it was the best show I have ever been to and I couldn’t have asked for any more from either of my ponies!