Seaford Equestrian Manager, Lucy Sanders, said: "Our Equestrian Teams were out competing at an Eventers Challenge at Coombelands, Pulborough on Monday 3rd May. This event comprised of a short round of show jumps followed immediately by cross country style fences with the winner being the combination with the least faults and closest to an optimum time which gets faster as the height classes progress. Our youngest rider, George Dace aged 8, improved with each class coming 5th in the 40cm judged on style, 3rd in the 50cm and an amazing 2nd in the 60cm! 

In the 70-75cmcm class, Raffy Chrispin rode a perfect round to win the class which was a great achievement and the first time she has won a class so very well done to Raffy!

The very windy weather played a big part with some ponies feeling flighty and not performing to their best and a couple of normally very consistent combinations had an off day so the ponies will be checked by their Vets to ensure there is no underlying reason or soreness. We also had one horse kicked in the field on the morning of the competition requiring Veterinary attention so they were unable to attend and poor Daisy Dace had a horrible fall while pony racing the day before so was unable to ride either. We wish all these horses and rider the very best and am sure they will be back to flying form again soon.

However, this meant that our 80-85cm and 90-95cm teams were rather depleted but we had a lovely round by Emily Cook who came 5th in the 90-95cm and qualified for the Nationals at Hickstead as an individual. It also gave a couple of our senior riders the opportunity to step in with their new and young horse both competing well and gaining much experience for the future.
We finished the day, just before the rain started, with a wonderful win and team qualification in the 1.00m-1.05m class for the team of Emily Cook, Sophie Jones and Lulu James. Lulu won the class with her pony Tuna, Emily was 4th, Sophie 5th with her new horse and Lulu 6th on her young horse. All combinations also qualify as individuals for the National Eventers Challenge Championships at Hickstead in May."