2024 IN REVIEW – PHILIP SMITH MEMORIAL EQUITATION CHAMPIONSHIPS
Share This Article
Photography: Merlynn Trichardt Photography
One of the highlights of the Easter Festival hosted at Kyalami Equestrian Park each year is the Philip Smith Memorial Equitation Championships (PSM). This unique event is one that every aspiring young rider dreams to compete in, never mind win!
History
It is an event steeped in rich history, going back over 50 years to the early 1970s when Charlotte Stubbs introduced the discipline of equitation to South Africa. Her aim was to improve the standard of riding throughout South Africa through competition that provided constructive feedback to riders who often had no regular access to correct coaching.
While this year’s Philip Smith Equitation Championship was the 23rd annual running of the event as it currently runs, it was developed and adapted from the National Equitation Championships that ran from 1971-1981 and the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (WAS) Supreme Equitation Championship, which ran from 1982 to 2000. Charlotte Stubbs, when questioned on what it would take to win the National Equitation Championships, said that “hard work would be essential”, noting also that “the prestige of winning would be enormous for both riders and the instructors”. This most certainly was the case then and still is today.
The competition today
Although the format of the competition has changed twice since its inception, it is still a competition that tests the Juniors who qualify on their flatwork and jumping abilities, as well as their versatility and capacity to handle an immense amount of pressure and stress. All these skills prepare the youngsters for futures at the very top of the sport.
The Philip Smith Memorial Championship is an invitational event. The four highest-placed riders in the preceding year’s South African Open Junior Equitation Championships are invited to compete.
The four riders contending for the title each complete a unique (and secret) flatwork test on their own horse and each of the other riders’ horses. This year’s test included dressage elements that you would find in a Medium dressage test, one-handed work, no-stirrup work, canter loops to the centre line as well as leg yield to the centre line and back, 10m canter circles and even a flying change. Scores are not released after Phase 1, so everyone is left in a state of anticipation for the coming Phases!
The second Phase, held on another day, is the jumping phase; similarly, the riders ride each of the four horses initially through a grid (with one hand and no stirrups) and then jump a short course set at 1.15-1.20m which includes a triple combination.
This year, Phase 2 was relatively uneventful in the sense that there were only a few rails here and there, and the quality of riding across the board was exceptional, which made for a very nerve-wracking wait while the final points totals were calculated. As expected, it was a very tight finale with only 11.5 points (out of a possible 4800) separating first and second place! For the first time since 2012, and only the second time in the history of the PSM, a male rider won the title!
The results
1st – Daniel Beddow coached by Jess Fourie (Western Cape)
2nd – Hamza Minty coached Chad Cunningham (KZN)
3rd – Katie Franck coached by Joanne Van Achterberg and Kelly Slater (Gauteng)
4th – Juliana Haden-Smith coached by Joanne Van Achterberg and Kelly Slater (Gauteng)
Our 2024 PSM Championship winner, Daniel Beddow, described his win as “a dream come true”. He advised future PSM contenders to “take their time and enjoy every moment because before you know it, it’s all over. Put any mistakes behind you and move on because you won’t know how many points each rider has until the end.”
The 2025 Philip Smith Memorial Championships
The 2024 SA Open Equitation Champions saw 32 contenders vying for not only the title, but hopefully their ticket to the 2025 Philip Smith Memorial Championships. The top placing riders from SA Champs that we will hopefully see contending to be the 24th PSM Champion are Alexandra Ric-Hansen, Hamza Minty (for a second time), Olivia Roberts and Adrienne Macdonald-Hutcheson, but invitations are still to be accepted and confirmation awaits. Stay tuned!