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2010 Brighton Saddleworld Young Rider Championships

Inter I Freestyle Alexis Hellyer on Waca W Inter I Freestyle Alexis Hellyer on Waca W Photograph:Main Event Photography

Great weather (although a tad chilly at 7.30 in the morning!) set the scene for a great Championships and the integration of the 2010 EA NSW Para-Equestrian WEG Selection Event proved a winner. The Saturday night disco saw all competitors mixing it on the dance floor – wheelchairs and all!

The event also included the Brighton Saddleworld Dressage NSW Open FEI Event, with a Prix St George Challenge Qualifier a special attraction this year. This gave many of our junior riders an opportunity to mix with and be up close to some of our top Grand Prix horses and riders.

A highlight of the event was the presentation of Toshiba laptops to all the winners of the Scholarship Classes. The look of surprise on the winners’ faces said it all and our sincere thanks to Nick Swan of Toshiba and Tanaka –san who were there to make the presentations. Both Brighton Saddleworld and Toshiba were major sponsors of these Championships and their generosity made this event all the more special.

Inevitably, each year we farewell some of our well-known young riders as they turn 21 and these were the final DNSW Young Rider Championships for NSW Youth Development Squad riders Robbie Soster, Alexis Hellyer and Jessica Willard. We congratulate these dedicated, experienced and talented riders on their success to date and the professionalism they have always shown when representing NSW and wish them the very best for the future.

We saw some beautiful horses showing correct training according to their level and this was especially exciting with some of the younger riders on ponies – they were super competitive against the bigger horses, especially in some of the freestyles.

For the Para-equestrian riders, this was their final WEG selection event and nerves were pretty tight at the final presentations on Sunday, when the team for WEG was announced. Congratulations to well-known NSW rider Nicole Cullen and Nikshar Nomination and the full team is on the EA website.

The Project Outcomes Blokes Do Dressage Too award, an initiative of Paul Newall, is building momentum and this year we had riders from Victoria and Queensland vying for the awards. David Mackinnon won the  performance award whilst Paul may have regretted that the encouragement awards are drawn from a hat as son Hugh’s name came out twice -  (Hugh is going to have to watch that sister Jodie doesn’t claim the ride on his impressive 6yo Jive Mystic C!).

Congratulations to all our riders, sponsors and volunteers for making it such as great event.

Click here photos and a list of all the winners, place getters and Champions.