Our Brandeston Equestrian team are the NSEA’s 80cm Suffolk Show Jumping Champions.
Last weekend the Equestrian team of 4 Brandeston pupils [Sophie Pettitt, Tabby Wade, Jonny Peate and Connor Slater] represented the school at the County Championships at Bury Farm International Equestrian Village. At the Championships the height goes up 5cm larger than what the teams qualified at so this was a big ask for some riders never having been asked to jump 85cm before.
Sophie with her new pony of just 2 months called Blue had a great weekend with 3 clear rounds and her final time of 25.9 seconds was fast enough to have been placed in the top 12 in the country.
Tabby with her long term pony partner Wills, had 2 clear rounds and unfortunately dropped a pole on the final round gaining 4 faults in a fast round of 34.64 seconds.
Jonny with Charlie started off with a tricky warm up on Friday evening but then gained momentum to ride 2 great rounds in the competition Saturday. His first round was clear and unfortunately they dropped a pole on the final round gaining 4 faults. This was Jonny’s first ever time jumping at 85cm.
Connor with his new pony Max had never competed together before nor had they jumped 85cm before so jumping clear rounds in the warm up round and first round showed great promise. The combination also went fast in the final round with 32.06 seconds but they unfortunately took down 2 poles so gaining 8 faults.
Brandeston finished 17th out of 33 teams at the National level, a fantastic result and this bodes well for the equestrian future of Framlingham and Brandeston when the riding teams combine forces in September 2016. We were the most successful school in Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire at both 80cm and 90cm at the County Championship- the Framlingham 90cm show Jumping team being placed 5th nationally. Congratulations to all of the pupils involved and a massive thank you for the wonderful support given by the parents but especially to Mrs Slater who has been a fantastic motivational force throughout.
