It was a busy year for HNHS Equestrian Captain
Zoe Gordon and her team of ponies and horses,.
She represented Hawkes Bay Area twice in eventing,
twice in Show Hunter and twice in Show Jumping, all
in different parts of the country on various different
ponies and horses. She, unsurprisingly was the best
performer in the inter-school events too.
Stalwart members of the team Madi Hall and Sam
Hall (no relation ) led the way for lots of new junior
members representing the school for the first time.
Many of these riders compete against each other
at local shows, so it is nice for them to be working
together for the school events.
New members Sarah Smith, Georgia Hulls, Madi Wezel,
Tory Carver, Erin Connelly, Lauren Bell, Michaela Tait,
Courtney Neilson and Olivia Broadhurst enjoyed
themselves at the HNHS inter-school event and their
parents helped run the day which for the first time in
recent memory was hot and sunny in April at the show
grounds. We had a smattering of good results, but not
enough to win back our cup.
Special mention must be made of Tory Carver
and Erin Connelly for designing and making team
browbands for all the horses as part of their Year 10
Business course.
Another very hot day in September for the Woodford
House inter-school event saw a reduced team of
Zoe, Madi, Sam and Georgia tackle the cross-country
fences and the dressage tests. Zoe and Madi got
placings in very competitive classes and Sam and
Georgia went home feeling very pleased that they
had conquered the 80cm derby course. Sadly our
photographer , Mr Morrison missed all the action and
only got a photo of Madi dismounting unexpectedly.
Our next event is running the HNHS Inter-Primary and
Intermediate event in October, which will be fun, but it
is against the odds that that day too will be hot and
sunny !
The show season starts now and many of our team will
be competing at the A and P shows to gain qualification to compete at next year’s Horse of the Year
Show. Good luck to all of them. It is worth a mention
that ex-HNHS Equestrian Team membe '2&R6