Cadet Sophia Anderson, represented her Royal Navy section at the recent HAC International Uniformed Services Show Jumping Competition, held at the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in London.
Sophia tells us about her experience:
Sevenoaks show jumping star
A CCF cadet from Sevenoaks School in Kent has had the honour of competing in an international show jumping event.
On 4 November I went up to the King's Troop RHA Barracks in London for the HAC International Uniformed Services Show Jumping Competition which I qualified for at the beginning of the October half term.
Upon arrival, we were given a briefing of how the competition works and what was involved. I was allocated a horse called Lourdes and after a 20 minute warm up we went in for the first round.
The first class consisted of two rounds and if anyone had a double clear (no jumping or time faults in both rounds), a jump off would take place for individual placings. I unfortunately had a pole (penalty for a pole getting knocked down) in the first round meaning I couldn't do the jump off but I then had a clear in the second round. In this class the team results would be the scores from the first two rounds, and the rest of the team did well so we came second.
The second class was called 'Fault and Out', a round where you would try and jump around the course as fast as possible against the clock and not incur any faults. As soon as you had a fault, you would have to stop. As I had become accustomed to riding Lourdes, I was able to do a quick clear and fortunately it was fast enough to win!
I received the Hugh Auger Memorial Plate and due to being the highest placed female rider, I was also presented with the Charlotte Heppel Memorial Rose Bowl along with some very generous prizes! It was a very enjoyable day and I hope to do it again next year!
