A Dressage and Show-Jumping Show was held at Herbie’s Haven Stables, Ruretse over the weekend of 24th/25th October, 2015. The Horse Society of Botswana financially assisted this show with water for the Dressage and Show-Jumping arenas and with the presence of Rescue One Emergency Medical Services. HSB also assisted with the inspection of both arenas and kindly declared both acceptable for a Graded Show. All other costs were met by the host, Mrs Bridget O’Neill.
Well prepared
The Dressage Judge was Mrs Bridget O’Neill and her Scribe was Mrs Angela Tilney. The dressage scores were calculated and finalised by Mrs Carmo Manis. The Show-Jumping Judge was Mrs Teresa Fitt and her Scribe was Mrs Aida Arbi and their Timekeeper was Mrs Camilla Joyner. The Course Designer and Course Builder was Mrs Bridget O’Neill and she was helped by Khumo Rasekedi building the jumps and changing the courses. The sand arenas were beautifully prepared and watered by Ardmore Morero. Rescue One Emergency Medical Services were represented by Tawanda Munyoro and Ditiro Osenoneng who were present throughout Sunday morning in immediate readiness should their well-equipped Ambulance need to be used. The entry fees were BWP100.00 per class which included the Grounds Fee and Officials Levy. Catering, in the form of hot and cold drinks, yummy bacon and egg rolls and hot dogs, was available throughout the weekend and was prepared by Mary Machachanje and Lovemore Ncube.
A great day of competition
The Dressage started on Saturday morning at 7.30am and forty-three tests were ridden and judged in very hot weather conditions. The Show-Jumping started at 8.00am on Sunday morning on another very hot day. The temperature reached 39degrees in the afternoon but was only a mere 34degrees when the jumping was concluded in the late morning!
On Saturday afternoon at 3.00pm an HSB Social and Awards Presentation took place in Seamus and Bridget’s home. It was very well supported and a large turnout of Horse Society Members enjoyed the casual afternoon around the cool swimming pool. There was a jumping castle for the many children and young at heart which was kindly sponsored by Ludi Scheffer. Thank you Ludi. Guests were also able to see one televised semi-final of Rugby World Cup. A delicious meal of beef lasagne, macaroni cheese and salad was prepared by Debra Freeman’s popular outside catering company, “Lorile” and was cooked by her faithful ladies Lone and Neo. The cost was BWP120.00 for adults and BWP60.00 for children under twelve years of age.
Tough track
Bridget designed and built two fabulous courses for the Sunday show-jumping. The first course was for a Competition in Two Phases. It had thirteen jumps and fourteen jumping efforts comprising of six uprights, four parallels, one triple bar, one water tray and one double combination with four changes of rein. The start was approached on the left rein to jump one, an upright, straight on in five strides to jump two, a parallel, land left and around to jump three, a parallel, land right and around to jump four, an upright of planks, land right and on in eight strides to jump five, an upright, straight on in five strides to jump six, a triple bar, land right and around to jump seven “A” and “B” the double combination of a parallel and two strides to an upright, land left and around to jump eight an upright of the Satib Insurance plank, straight on in seven strides to jump nine, an upright, land right and around to jump ten, an upright, straight on in four strides to jump eleven, a parallel, land right and turn back to jump twelve, an upright over the water tray, land left and around to jump thirteen, the Murray and Roberts parallel and through the finish. There were seven jumps in the first phase and six jumps in the second timed phase.
The Table “A” course had ten jumps and eleven jumping efforts comprising of four uprights, three parallels, one triple bar, one water tray and one double combination and four changes of rein. The start was approached on the left rein to jump one, an upright, land left and around to jump two, an upright, straight on to jump three, a parallel, land right and turn back to jump four, a parallel, land left and around to jump five, an upright of planks, land left and around to jump six “A” and “B” the double combination of an upright and one stride to a parallel, land left and around to jump seven, a parallel, land right and around to jump eight, the triple bar, land right and around to jump nine, the Murray and Roberts upright, land left and around to jump ten, a upright over the water tray and through the finish.
Thank you
We thank those dedicated riders who travelled their horses and ponies to this venue for the show. These were Deborah Fourie from Mokolodi, Pelenomi Lekgowe and Hannah Mullineux from Notwane, Pearl Naylor, Belinda Irish, Julie Moss, Joan Ryan, Paula Burrowes, Tammy Bradford, Lune Coetzee, Tabatha Steenkamp, Terien Swanepoel, Michaela Bradford, Morgan Irish, Richard Southern and Bridget Tippins from within Ruretse.
Text and photography: Sarah Ward