Another resounding success at our 17th Annual Horse Trials Championship
The 17th Annual Tintern Interschool Horse Trials was once again a great success. The event was held at the picturesque Wandin Park on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 April. There were over 270 competitors from 46 schools across Victoria who participated in the competition. Tintern’s Interschool Horse Trials is a unique event on the Interschool Equestrian Calendar where competitors participate in three phases of competition over two days – dressage, show jumping and cross country. Dressage being the main event on Saturday and Cross Country and Showjumping on Sunday. In 2016 our event became a qualifying event for the Nationals, which is a notable achievement for an event run by a school.
The weather was kind to us for most of the weekend, aside from a little drizzle on Saturday morning. We were thrilled that Seumas Marwood, whose son was competing, agreed to walk the Cross Country course with some of our youngest riders. Seumas is a 4* rider who has been competing at National and International level for Australia for over 30 years, so we appreciated his generosity in providing some valuable tips to our Class 5 riders who are quite new to eventing.
Most competitors camp with their horses and team mates at Wandin Park over the course of the weekend. Many of the competitors, teachers and their families enjoyed the dinner and dancing which was organised on Saturday evening whilst others enjoyed staying warm by their camp fires.
The competition is scored individually and as a team event, at the time of writing, we are still awaiting final results from the Event Secretary.
Tintern Grammar had 11 riders in three teams and, whilst our teams didn’t place this year, there were some great individual results. Congratulations to all our riders from Tintern Grammar Equestrian Team. There were many personal bests achieved over the course of the weekend and all of our riders were outstanding ambassadors for Tintern Grammar.
Thank you to the parents from the Friends of Equestrian, who all worked together to organise the day with enthusiasm and professionalism. This event would not be possible without the many hundreds of hours also provided by the teams of volunteers who assist the committee during the weekend.
One of our Equestrian Captains, Eliza Harvey (Year 12), was representing Tintern at her 10th Tintern Horse Trials this year. Congratulations, Eliza, on your outstanding contribution to the Equestrian Team during your time at Tintern. We look forward to another successful event in 2018.
by Alison Bezaire, Equestrian Coordinator