A small taste of Polocross.......

Another very popular horse sport in Zambia is Polocross. Here are a few pictures taken at a recent tournament. I hope to be able to get more information about this sport and some better pictures soon.

Thrills and Spills at the Lusaka Derby 2007

It's Derby time again!

This years show was well supported with competitors travelling from the Copperbelt and also from the Democratic Republic of Congo to take part. There were classes for children, junior and adult riders of all Grades. There were some tears and plenty of cheers as riders took to the arena and tried their hand at the lovely courses designed and built by Mary Binks who had once again travelled all the way from Kenya to be our Foreign Judge for the FEI as well as our Course Designer. The show was held and organised at the Lusaka Gymkhana Club, with Jenny Miller in charge. Once again it was a well run show with the venue looking very smart and a lot of hard work having been done by Jenny and the club membership.

Enjoy the pictures!

FEI World Show Jumping Challenge 2007

The Lusaka Derby, incorporating the FEI World Show Jumping Challenge was held this weekend. The Zambian leg of the World Challenge, category B, was won by Lisa Swart on Jamas Full Strike, Jenny Miller on Compadre coming a close second with our youngest competitor, Faye Wienand on Harry Brawn coming third.

The World Challenge is run over four different courses on two successive days, the total faults in each round being added together to decide the winner. Lisa and Full Strike were the only pair to manage four clear rounds in the competition. Now we wait for the results from the rest of our Group to see where Zambia stands in the rankings.

The versatile Zambian horse!

And here is Amanita again, two weeks after the FEI Dressage Challenge, doing her winning round in the Speed Event at the Democratic Republic of Congo International Show!

To big competitions!

This is Amanita and my daughter taking part in the FEI World Dressage Challenge. The Challenge was begun by the FEI to help countries that don't have access to top trainers and is run all over the world every year. Zambia falls under Zone 9 which consists of Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Swaziland. Other Zones include countries such as Brazil, New Zealand, Russia, Greece, South Africa and Jamaica, to name just a few! Every year top FEI Judges travel around the world to each of these countries, the same Judges doing the same Zones, and each Zone competes against itself, the top two competitors then competing against each other to win the World Challenge. These Judges also give clinics after the competition to help riders and to encourage the further improvement in dressage.

For the past few years Zambia has been in the top percentage for their Zone. Zambia has also won the Best Venue Award (for ALL the countries taking part) for two years. In 2005, a Zambian rider came third overall in the individual test from 64 competitors taking part in the Zone (Amanita was 7th!) and in 2006 one of our riders was 6th overall. We have won the team event several times and we have won the Children's Test twice in a row.

Nearly all the horses used in Zambia for every discipline are Thoroughbreds. These horses are nearly always 'multi task' horses, doing dressage, show jumping, cross country and, sometimes, taking part in the odd polocrosse match too! Most of them are bought as ex-racehorses, either having finished their careers in this very demanding sport or having not quite made the grade and being sold on for other purposes. There is very little breeding done in Zambia so they have nearly always come from Zimbabwe, sometimes starting in Zambia as Polo horses which don't have the 'right stuff' for that discipline and then being passed onto the show jumping and dressage disciplines. This makes it all the more amazing that these wonderful animals can adjust and achieve as well as they do.

For such a small riding country, I think we have reason to be proud of our achievements! The next Dressage Challenge will take place in October 2007.

From small beginings.....

The love affair with horse's starts from a very early age. This happy little girl is gearing up for her riding lesson on her favourite pony! One of our future show jumping prospects perhaps?

Elvis at the Lusaka Derby last year.

One of our major shows held every year at the end of June is the Lusaka Derby. We also hold the FEI World Show Jumping Challenge in conjunction with this show so it is quite a big event that most riders in Zambia try very hard not to miss.

For us, getting there is a major schlep! We have to box our horses 380kms - usually in small trailers - and it is a day on the road, avoiding potholes and other delights of the Zambian road system! Mind you, the roads are in a much better condition than they used to be five years ago so it could be a lot worse! The trip takes considerable planning and organisation - we try to be on the road by 8am at the latest, expecting to arrive at the show grounds in Lusaka by 3pm. Travelling in the dark on these roads is never an option! For my daughter and I, it is a case of travelling 60kms 'back' to Kitwe to load horses and then back through Ndola on our way to Lusaka - it adds a couple of extra hours on and means we are usually on the road by 5:30am.

Last year Elvis (proper name Castle Rock) and my daughter were just starting their career together in the arena in Juniors at JNE level, a height of 80cms. This year they will be joining the adults jumping ANE and AE at 90cm-1m. We hope to be doing 1.20 by the end of the season. Elvis can certainly jump the height but is still learning to balance himself and 'sort his legs out'! Unfortunately, due to the pressure of Final 'O' level exams this past year, they have not been able to work nearly as much as they would have liked or needed to.

So here we are again, rushing around organising the horse trailer and getting ourselves out of 'school' mode and into 'show' mode and getting ready for the 'trek' to Lusaka in three weeks time.

Wish us luck!

Ponies of the New Forest

Whilst on holiday in the UK, we travelled through the New Forest and snapped this picture of a 'wild' New Forest pony mare and her foal on the side of the road. It was quite a novelty for us as you don't see wild horses in Africa - only the odd Zebra in a game park!

The ponies are quite used to the tourists and take no notice of the cars or hikers wandering around their grazing land. It was really lovely to see them as we drove through this most beautiful part of England. I believe they make excellent children's ponies and are very good natured.

The Children are our Future!

One of our riding schools here in the Copperbelt - Woodlands Equestrian Centre. The yard is situated just outside Kitwe in the midst of beautiful bushland next to the Kafue River. There's some lovely places to just go hacking if that's your 'thing' and several schooling arenas for the more dedicated horseman.

Children and adults come here to learn the fine art of equitation under the watchful eye of BHSI Instructor, Lisa - also the owner of the yard. This is also where I keep my daughter's competition horses Amanita and Castle Rock as well as her semi-retired pony Fezzan Al Lahab.

We hold small shows and gymkhanas here throughout the year and are in the process of starting up the first Coppperbelt Branch of the Zambia Pony Club. The facilities are continuously being upgraded with new stables almost complete and a new jumping arena under construction, hopefully ready to use later this year.

Two weeks ago we had Zimbabwean dressage trainer Carole Evans at the Centre, giving lessons followed by a dressage assize. She also held a dressage learner judge's seminar at which we learnt an enormous amount about 'what the judge is looking for in a good dressage test' and also gave interested people the opportunity to practise their skills (or lack thereof!) at judging. It was a brilliant day, sponsored by the Zambia Horse Society. Hopefully some of those 'learners' will become official learner judges and then on to fully fledged Dressage Judges in due course.

Our next planned event is a Gymkhana and Jumping weekend sometime in June as we start preparing our riders for the forthcoming show season - the next major show being the Lusaka Show Jumping Derby at the end of June.

A few from the archives to get us started!

A contingent of riders went to compete in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2005. The horses were trucked up, a long and wearysome journey but well worth the effort. We even managed to bring a few trophies home. It was a lovely show and everyone had a great time.