Equestrians from Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools have qualified for two national finals.
Bibi Zijlmans, Holly Thomas, Flora Macfarlane and Alice Garfield will be the first riders to represent the school when they compete at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in the team 90cm class in May.
The quartet won their section in the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) Show jumping qualifiers at Kings Equestrian Centre in Herefordshire, topping the class in the regional heat. They also qualified in the team 90cm class for the NSEA national finals in Buckinghamshire next month.
The top six individual riders or teams in each class qualified for the national finals and Monmouth will have 10 representatives in total.
Flora and Holly joined Sophie Smith and Catherine Bird to achieve a victory in the team 1m class to book their spot at the finals. Sophie secured an individual win 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 and will be joined by Flora, who was sixth in the individual 90cm class.
Lloyd Thomas will compete in the 70cm class after qualifying in second place. He also finished fourth along with Jennie Cloud, Evie Lawson and Lucinda Chinn in the 70cm team class, while Bibi, Alice, Lloyd and Jennie capped off a successful day for the school by finishing sixth in the team 80cm class.
Camille Geisz, team manager and teacher at Monmouth School for Girls, said: “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. We are very proud of our riders’ achievements and they will be heading to the finals in Windsor and Buckinghamshire with great excitement.”