Riders soar into national equestrian finals

March 10, 2018

Alice, Flora, Bibi and Holly have qualified for Windsor.

Promising riders from Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools have qualified for two national equestrian finals, including the prestigious Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Bibi, Holly, Flora and Alice will be the first riders to wear the schools’ colours at Windsor when they compete in the team 90cm class on 12th May.

The quartet won their section in the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) Show Jumping Qualifiers at Kings Equestrian Centre in Herefordshire.

They topped the class in the regional heat which attracted show jumpers from 26 schools across Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Shropshire and Powys.

Bibi, Holly, Flora and Alice have also qualified in the team 90cm class for the NSEA national finals in Buckinghamshire which run from 21st and 22nd April.

The top six individual riders or teams in each class qualified for the NSEA national finals and Monmouth will have 10 representatives in total.

Rider Alice in full flight.

Flora and Holly joined Sophie and Catherine to achieve a victory the team 1m class to book their spot at the finals.

Sophie secured an individual victory in the 1m 10 class and also qualified for the finals in the individual 1m class after finishing fifth.

Holly, who was third in the individual 1m class, will also ride two other horses in the finals after finishing fourth and fifth in the individual 90cm class. Holly will be joined by Flora, who was sixth in the individual 90cm class.

Lloyd will compete as an individual in the 70cm class after qualifying in second place.

Lloyd, Jennie, Evie and Lucinda were fourth in the 70cm team class, while Bibi, Alice, Lloyd and Jennie capped off a hugely successful day for the Monmouth riders by finishing sixth in the team 80cm class.

Team manager Camille Geisz, a keen rider and Classics teacher at Monmouth School for Girls, was delighted to see 10 riders from Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools progress from the regional qualifiers.

“I have been managing the schools’ equestrian team for five years and this is the first time we have qualified for the Royal Windsor Horse Show,” she said.

“We are very proud of our riders’ achievements and they will be heading to the finals in Windsor and Buckinghamshire with great excitement.”