Young show jumpers battle for silverware

(CIEF): As soon as the dust settled in the dressage arena at the Equestrian Centre following last month’s Dressage Show, four young riders from the Cayman Islands Equestrian Federation put themselves forward to try out for a spot in the Cayman Team in the upcoming first round of the inter-Caribbean show jumping competition. In 2013 Team Cayman were placed first in the Barbados leg of the competition and were joint winners of the overall competition with Trinidad. This year’s Team Cayman are keen to go one better and be the only ones with their hands on the silverware.

The Caribbean Equestrian Association’s Junior Show Jumping Competition, or ‘JSJC”, consists of four fixtures. Each participating nation takes turns to host one of the four events during the year. The nations competing in 2014 are Cayman, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica.

The 2014 competition kicked off on Valentine’s weekend in Barbados with two age groups competing, under 16 and under 14. The four younger riders putting themselves forward to win a spot on the Cayman Team were Ashley van den Bol and Madeleine Arquart from the Equestrian Centre and sisters Hannah and Chloe Fowler from Cayman Riding School.

The trial requires the riders to ride three of the four horses participating in the trial and challenges the riders to use their skills in riding unfamiliar horses as this is the format of the competition when they travel overseas.

Keeping her head, Madeleine Arquart put in three very competent clear rounds to win the trial with no faults and a time of 167.80 seconds. Hannah Fowler was second with 4 faults and a time of 136.26 seconds,  Chloe Fowler was third with 4 faults and a time of 150.68 seconds and Ashely van den Bohl fourth with 16 faults and a time of 207.99 seconds.

Arquart was delighted with her win and is excited to represent her country in Barbados. It will be the first time that Arquart has represented Cayman in this competition and she shares the experience with Isabelle Smith, who also will also be representing Cayman for the first time. Isabelle Smith was uncontested for her spot on the team and will represent Cayman in the under 16 competition.