The equestrians from Wellington School performed superbly when they competed at the National Schools Equestrian Association Championships last weekend. Annabelle Jay (Y10) is the National Schools Champion and a team of four girls are a very respectable 4th in the country.
The girls wentto the Addington Manor Equestrian Centre in Buckinghamshire. On Sunday Wellington was represented by Annabelle Jay (yr10) as an individual in the 85cm show jumping, after flying in from a Geography Field trip in Chamonix on Saturday night!.
Annabelle was riding her pony October and they jumped an excellent quick round and finished 3rd qualifying them for the final. The weather for the final was not ideal, the jumps were blowing over and spectators had to hold up the fences around the arena! Annabelle and October remained focused and went in to jump a super speedy round putting them in the top position, making Annabelle the winner and National Schools Champion
The show jumping team consisted of Emma Gibbins (yr10), Annabelle’s sister Lara Jay, Ellen Cowling and Pip Williams (yr7) for the mini 75cm Show Jumping Class. The team went on 2nd out of 30 teams to jump on Saturday morning in the first round. All 4 of the girls jumped beautiful clear rounds putting them in a good position.
They stayed in the top 8 for the whole of the first round, so qualified for the evening final in the main indoor arena, which was an achievement in itself! The following day, they took part in the final round. Emma started the team off with an excellent quick clear round, unfortunately Ellen was unlucky to tip a pole, Pip’s pony Jack decided that the indoor arena was a little scary, and Lara managed another quick clear, so the team completed on 4 faults with a fast time and the Wellington girls finished in a very respectable 4th in the whole country – a great achievement!
Photos:
1. The Team – Emma Gibbins (yr10), Lara Jay, Ellen Cowling and Pip Williams (yr7)
2. Annabelle Jay – National Schools Equestrian Champion