THREE members of the Mid Devon Riding Club made the long journey to the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead to compete in the British Horse Society Riding Clubs Team Jumping Championships at the Longines Royal International Horse Show last weekend.
A hundred teams competed over three course heights at the Internationally renowned showground.
The team had suffered setbacks leading up to the championships due to illness, but a brave offer from member Jennie Humphry to ride Molly Colebrook-Clark's Amaryllis at the 105cm height enabled the team to compete, even though Jennie is still recovering from an injury sustained earlier this year.
All three combinations jumped extremely well considering the journey.
The show atmosphere did not seem to affect the novice combination of Shouna Sibcy and Rio V, who only started jumping in April this year.
It was the second big occasion for the Intermediate combination of Diana Stevens and her ex-race horse Moving Onwards as they had competed in the AmTrust Riding Club Unaffiliated Showjumping Championships at The Royal Windsor Horse Show in May. The fact that Jennie had only sat on Molly's mare twice before competing in the ring just showed what a talented rider she is. Jennie is well used to championship success, as she was the National Riding Clubs Horse Trials Champion with the talented Reggie.
Unfortunately the team could not wait for the final results before leaving the showground with the last horse arriving home at 3am on Monday.
Diana said: 'Shouna and I are eternally grateful to both Molly and Jennie for pulling out the stops at such short notice to enable the team to get to Hickstead. It was a fabulous weekend and well worth the journey.
'Mid Devon is a small friendly riding club and it is amazing that we can send riders to such prestigious events.'
Forthcoming Mid Devon Riding Club Events include a BBQ and Gymnastic jumping August 11, dressage and showjumping August 31 at Southcott Farm and team jumping at Cholwell October 31. For more details please visit middevonrc.co.uk