The Bega Showjumping Club’s Cobargo Cup contested well over the weekend.
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The Club welcomed a swarm of entries across junior and senior classes with jumps ranging up to 1.10m, but the Cup itself saw leaps of 1.35 and 1.4m.
Some regulars on the showjumping circuit showed their ability with Brett Clarke, Deon Williams and Craig Matthews all posting impressive results.
Meanwhile, officials said showjumping was also a sport for the young guns with plenty of juniors also enjoying some challenging layouts prepared by course designer Kirsty McPaul.
“Ultimately your aim as a course designer is to create a course that is encouraging yet challenging and improves both horse and rider,” McPaul said.
“I personally love a course that will have the best trained horses and riders rise to the top.”
She said there were a lot of freedoms in her designs, but there are limitations based on competition level and the field entered.
“Primarily i’m there to set a challenge within the course that suits the level of horse and rider competing, the difficulty and technical degree depends on many things, but safety and welfare of both horse and rider are first and foremost.”
Entrants enjoyed the layouts set by McPaul, with a great field of 13 riders competing in the AM3 1.10m main class, while there were few game enough to take on the title Cup round.
Deon Williams took out the 1.10m class, riding a double clear on Broadway Jitterbug to edge out young gun Jess Clarke on GH Tigerlilly on time with his 39.47 second finish.
However, the headline Cobargo Cup was claimed by Lucy Evans and Viva Joy, the only combination to string together a double clear round in the 1.4m main event.
“It is always a satisfying feeling to see the riders enjoying the challenge you set and putting on a great, nail biting performance.”
McPaul said rain had been welcomed at the Cobargo Showground, softening up some of the hard-packed ground, but “footing” was one her many considerations in setting the layouts.
“Some of the physical factors are the size of the area, the footing, number of jumps available, but also any ring-side distractions, which may frighten the horses.”
McPaul, who co-ordinated both rings on Sunday, said one of her key challenges was making changes to the course that provided variation for riders, while also keeping a smooth flow between classes.
Club members are now building excitement for the Bega Showjumping Cup to run at the end of December.