Hadley Rahael and Jordanne Brown were among the top jumpers when the T&T Equestrian Association (TTEA) held their Show Jumping Super League finals at Saddle Valley Stables in Santa Cruz, on October 25.
In the competition, the Mid League riders went first, jumping a challenging “Federation Equestre Internationale” designed course with a one-metre height, with ten jumps and two double combinations, amounting to 12 jumping efforts for the first round.
Jordanne Brown, 15, riding Mr Wings and Adelle Stollmeyer, riding ex racer, Audacity to Hope, both jumped perfect clear rounds in round one at this level. In round two, where there were eight jumps with one double combination, both riders had one knockdown, both at the Liverpool jump, for four faults each.
Brown’s time of 45.17 seconds, a little over two seconds faster than Stollmeyer’s time of 47.72 seconds, put her in first place with Stollmeyer grabbing the second place rosette. Brown, who had won all of the Mid League classes this year, was declared champion in the Mid League division with Stollmeyer being the reserve champion.
The Mini League level followed, with a height of 0.80m. Hadley Rahael, riding Miramis, continued her winning ways. She won, having accumulated just four faults in total, and with this, edged out Dr. Kelly Camacho, riding Eye See Dee, who had eight faults over the two rounds.
When the year’s competition points were tallied, Camacho emerged as the champion in the Mini League, with Amy Costelloe and Quiet Bid retaining the reserve champion trophy. Hadley Rahael, who had successfully competed at 1.10m level earlier in the year, was announced the High League champion.
For the first time, a Micro Mini league was introduced, with low jumps, designed to encourage young riders. Ten-year-old Isabella Powell won both of her classes, with Maeghan Koury placing second. Most of these riders benefited from a recent clinic from Colombian coach, Jorge Verswyvel, who spent a week in Trinidad recently working with over 15 riders, of all ages and stages.
The TTEA’S next competition will be the Caribbean Equestrian Association's Regional Jumping competition which will be held on December 6. T&T riders will compete against Barbados and the Cayman Islands in this team competition.