CAMBRIDGE MUM GEARING UP FOR EQUIDAYS AT MYSTERY CREEK NEXT MONTH
The countdown is on for Equidays 2016, which will be held at Mystery Creek Events Centre near Hamilton from October 14 to 16. Behind the scenes event organisers are hard at work, but so too are riders and horses around the country.
Cambridge mother-of-two Andrea Kewish, 41, has entered in the Wade Equine Derby, a new show jumping event for 2016, designed to appeal to amateur riders, or younger, less experienced horse-and-rider combinations.
It will be held over the same challenging course as the Hyundai Premier Derby, but with the jumps at lower heights of 1.10m to 1.15m.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” says Andrea. “Equidays is one of the few show jumping events in New Zealand which includes a derby at this height. It’s fun but difficult, too. I would never enter the Premier derby, as the jumps are set at 1.35m which is too big for an amateur like myself.”
The derby course is a test of skill and endurance not often asked of show jumping horses, and to prepare for the event, Andrea is training with her 10-year-old Selle Français-thoroughbred mare, Spring Fling, at venues around the wider Cambridge area. “We are practising jumping drop fences, ditches, going up banks, and making sure she is confident on different kinds of terrain,” she says.
Andrea has attended every Equidays since its inception six years ago, though mostly as a spectator. Last year she rode in the FEI World Challenge qualifier (1.10-1.20m) and finished in ninth place.
Equidays’ competition manager Kerry Willetts says they have been inundated with entries in the Wade Equine Derby. “We’ve intended to do it for a few years but we were worried it didn’t have the appeal of the bigger classes. However, it has proved to be very successful and the class is almost full.”
Kerry says entries range from younger children to adults. Among them are “up-and-coming riders who will be our future stars”. He has been involved with every Equidays, and adds, “The competitions have grown a lot; each year we’ve added another new competition.”
Also new this year is the invitational Horseware Ireland Double Slalom which will be part of the Friday night show jumping Spectacular. An exciting event for spectators, the Double Slalom will see two horse-and-rider combinations go head-to-head, racing over identical courses to beat each other and the clock.
Returning again this year, after much success in 2015 are the FEI World Jumping Challenge, the JLT Bloodstock Pony Six Bar, the Pony Grand Prix, the G.H. Mumm Champagne Horse Grand Prix, the Hyundai Premier Derby, Honda Pony Derby and the Isuzu D-Max Show Jumping and Cross-Country Challenge, which runs like an accumulator. The prize pool available to competitors exceeds $60,000.
A key focus of Equidays is education and, alongside the competitions and entertainment, more than 40 hours of clinics and seminars will run daily, led by top equine experts.
Equidays 2016 also includes two spectacular night shows and more than 200 exhibitors.
For more information see equidays.co.nz or visit equestrianentries.co.nz for the full competition schedule and to enter competitions.
