Pony Club Nationals a success

NZPCA Cross-Country Aucklands Phoebe Kirk on mount Telematic stumbles through the water jump.

Despite the average weather, the New Zealand Pony Club Eventing Championships was a rousing success at Barge Showgrounds.

Waitemata-Rodney's Gemma Hampson (Waitemata Rodney) produced a lovely clear round on Pintado Prima Rosa to take out the A1 Championship, impressing the 750-strong crowd.

NZPCA organising committee chairwoman Barbara Woolhouse was absolutely stoked with how the competition went.

"It was awesome, all the kids had a great time. There was such great team spirit in the truck park between all the teams, they're just buzzing," she said.

"It was a challenging cross country course they had to contend with but the riders exceeded expectations. The A1s were just exceptional.

"We had a fantastic crowd, especially on the final day. They came from all around the place. There was a good amount coming from Auckland.

Phoebe Kirk on Mount Telematic

"There were a lovely bunch of grandparents who made the trip from Hawkes Bay which was great."

Manawatu West Coast's Meg Dempster and Pixie Caramel finished as the DC Champions after a consistent three-day effort.

Francesca Masfen from the Auckland team won the MT Championship riding Kinnordy Gallilee.

Northland riders put in a great effort at home but were unable to crack the top rankings in the respective competitions.

Canterbury took out the team competition after an impressive final day effort in the show jumping competition.

The squad, made up of Charlotte Thomas on Picollo, Sophie Jarvis riding Time To Tango Too, Niamh Rayne with My Hallucination, Tayla Moriarty on Sir Jack Sparrow and Jessie Fitzjohn with What's The Buzz, overcame a deficit to take the title off day two leaders Marlborough/Nelson/West Coast.

Canterbury team coach, Becci Thomas thinks that one of their secrets to success was having to train in bad weather for the last six weeks leading up to the champs.

"Practising in the rain has turned out to be a good thing, we did lots of dressage and showjumping!"

Woolhouse said while the event was really well done, it won't be back for a while.

"No, not for another 10 and 16 years. Next year it is in Wairarapa-Wellington," she said.

"No one got injured, no one was badly hurt. No hospital visits.

"There were a few minor tumbles but no serious accidents. They just rode, I'm ecstatic."