The Equestrian Team from Queen Mary’s School, between Ripon and Thirsk, have put Yorkshire on the map as they have become national champions in the National Schools Equestrian Association (NSEA) Championship Finals.
After qualifiers including hundreds of teams and finals including over 40 teams per class, the Queen Mary’s 80cm Show Jumping team won the class to become the national champions. Isabel, Lily, Florence and Peggy qualified for the final in the morning before taking on the jump off in the evening where they worked as a team producing extremely fast times.
There were other successes across the championships for Queen Mary’s School. The 70cm Team finished 3rd in the final of the Jumping With Style competition where Florence and Lily produced fantastic clear rounds. Lily finished 3rd in a very fast final within the 70cm Show Jumping individual competition including over 80 riders. As one of the youngest riders in the class, Florence finished 4th in the 70cm Jumping With Style competition.
Genevieve and Peggy finished 2nd and 4th in the 100 Plate and Peggy finished 7th in the 90cm Show Jumping competition. Isabel and Peggy have also been selected to ride for the England Nations Cup Team producing quick rounds for their team.
Isabel Lindsley was delighted: “It has been an amazing experience to compete at this level. So much hard work goes on behind the scenes for us to pull together as a team. To bring home so many rosettes is a fantastic achievement.”
This year Queen Mary’s began to compete in Dressage at the NSEA Championships. Nellie became the first Queen Mary’s rider to attend the NSEA Dressage Championship Finals and she made the podium coming in 3rd in the Elementary Dressage competition.
Some of Queen Mary’s younger riders, Vita, Amelia and Florence, did the school proud coming in 6th in the 70 Plate competition. Special congratulations to Vita and Amelia as this was their first NSEA Championship Finals.
Alice Clennan, Queen Mary’s Equestrian Centre Manager said: “I am so proud of every one of the girls for triumphing against some of the largest schools in the country. They displayed excellent technical and riding ability alongside good horsewomanship and attitude. These achievements highlight the quality of riding at Queen Mary’s School.”
Carole Cameron, Head at Queen Mary’s School said: “Qualification for the national finals is a tremendous achievement in itself but to win the national title, when this specific team of the girls are aged 13 or younger, is really impressive. At Queen Mary’s we continue to succeed in these Championships year on year. The school provides girls with the opportunity to compete at a high level from a young age and also to gain academic success in their studies. Congratulations to all our pupils who competed and to our Equestrian Centre staff for their year-round dedication.”
Queen Mary’s offers a broad curriculum, allowing pupils to pursue their interests within small classes designed to encourage academic excellence in a nurturing environment. The next Open Day will take place on Friday 8 November. For more information please call 01845 575000.