Island riders star at big event
Riley Correia and Kristen Bean put on an impressive show at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.
The pair, along with Clare Tomlinson, travelled to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center for the event, which is one of the largest and most comprehensive horse shows in the United States.
Nearly 3,000 riders from some 30 countries take part over the 12 weeks of competition which runs from January until April 1.
The Bermuda trio competed last month, with Bean marking her first time at an AA Horse Show with first, second and fourth place finishes earning her the Reserve Championship for Child/Adult Training Jumpers class on Wiratoro.
Correia, meanwhile, rode Vinchenza and competed in the Low Children’s Jumper Division (1.05m) and training classes (schoolings). After two clear rounds in training she competed in the Speed class placing third out of 32. Correia used her National Junior Athlete Award to fund this experience.
Tomlinson showed in hunter and equitation divisions during week 6 at WEF, and trained with Patti Harnois and Cathy Grady. She rode a 16.3 horse called Chevy. They competed in 3’ Open Hunter classes and came eighth and tenth out of 41 entries.
Tomlinson also took part in the THIS Medal class scoring 75. In the 12 to 14 equitation, she finished first in one of the 2’9” rounds and was Reserve Champion overall.
On her final day, she and Chevy competed in Low Children’s Hunter 2’6” and then the Low Children’s 2’6” Classic with the top 15 returning. They got scores of 85 and 88 and came first in this final class out of 51 entries.