Hattie becomes National Champion at Schools' Equestrian Competition

A Sixth Form pupil is a National Champion horse rider following a win at the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) at Hickstead. 

Hattie A (G, UVI) competed in the highest height class in the Eventers Challenge Class over half term.  

The NSEA runs various qualifying events all over the country and this year Hattie qualified in Cumbria for the 100/105 Eventers Challenge. 

Hattie said: “This is my last year competing in the NSEA Championships; I've qualified for the Championships in the past but never managed to get placed, so winning was an amazing way to finish.  Hickstead this year was extremely busy, with classes running in various arenas from 7.30am to 7pm each day.  Each discipline has 4 classes at different height levels, Eventers Challenge runs from 70cms - 105cms.   

 “The NSEA run various disciplines over 3 Championships.  The Championships at Hickstead over half term was for Showjumping, Dressage and Eventers Challenge.  The Eventers Challenge is in 2 parts, Show Jumping and Cross Country.   

“My horse, Peekaboo, was incredibly excited in the warm up arena and I was very nervous, which worked surprisingly well as we had a fantastic clear round in the Show jumping, I then rode over to the Cross Country arena where we were held until the officials set us off for the Cross Country section. Peekaboo worked really hard over a technical course and we had another clear round. The results are recorded as you finish your round so it was very nerve racking watching and waiting to see if I was going to remain on the podium.   

“Everyone puts a lot of time and effort into training but on this occasion everything just came together at the right time in the right place and I couldn't be happier to have won the 100/105 Eventers Challenge.”