BERMUDA’S riders will compete in the annual FEI World Dressage Challenge this Saturday and will be the first country out of the blocks with riders from Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Antigua being judged later in the year. And while the show would normally be staged at the National Equestrian Centre at Vesey Street, this year it will be held at the Botanical Gardens as Vesey Street was booked for other equestrian activities.Riders will compete in the FEI Children’s Test, Test B and Test A as well as the FEI Adult Preliminary Test.

Flying in to the judge the shows are FEI officials Jayne Ayers from the US and Victoire Mandl from Austria.

The highlight of the local dressage competition calendar in Bermuda is the World Dressage Challenge.

Countries participating in the Challenge are divided geographically into groups of countries who are then offered four performance levels — Prix St. Georges, Advanced, Novice for adults and Preliminary for Children. The competition is held between individuals and teams within each group and each group is judged separately.

Riders in the FEI Preliminary Test will be Stephanie Kempe on Jungle Boogie, Tyler Lopes on Playboy and Sarah Schroder on Flying Colors.

Test B riders are Anna Franlin on Worth Avenue, Kate Howarth on Woodgate, Ann Lindroth on After Dark, Melissa Pereech on Sambuca, Chelsey Roberts on Solo Crusader, Christine Terceira on Welcome Shadow and Stephanie Wilkinson on Tattertales.

Jackie Scott on Just Cruisin will be the sole rider in Test A while riders in the FEI Adult Preliminary Test will be Sierra Bell on Somer’s Belle, Kim Correia on Mr. Majestic, Kelly Glazebrokk on Arwen and Gina Maughan on Intuition.

[obox] JayLynn Hines of Bermuda won the individual class (12 & under division) in the first leg of the Caribbean Equestrian Association Junior Jumping Competition held in the Cayman Islands last weekend.

Hines was the only competitor under 12 who jumped two out of four clear rounds at the 0.80 metres (just over 2 feet 6 inches) height and beat competitors from Jamaica, Cayman and Antigua. Each country was represented by two riders, one under 12 and one under 16. The horses are loaned by the host nation and therefore they are unfamiliar to the riders.

Cori Williams, who was the Bermuda under 16 rider, had an unfortunate fall at the last but one fence in the first round at the 0.95 metres (just over 3 feet) height and broke her wrist.

All the other 16 & under competitors had refusals and been eliminated prior to Cori’s round so with only two fences to go the Bermuda team was expecting Williams to finish first.

Her injury meant she was unable to continue into the subsequent rounds but the rules of the competition allow a rider from the host country to substitute for the injured rider.

Alex Kennett from Cayman replaced Williams and fortunately for the Bermuda team Kennett placed second overall in the 16 and under division which moved the Bermuda team to second place overall. Jamaica, with team coach Betty Wates, who is a frequent visitor to Bermuda, placed first and gained five points, Bermuda gained three points, Cayman was third with two points and Antigua was fourth with one point to carry into the next leg in Jamaica on March 31 and April 1.

The Bermuda representatives for this leg in Jamaica have not yet been selected by the Bermuda Equestrian Federation.

Michael Rodrigues, the Bermuda team coach said: “Although Cori was disappointed I was very pleased with the performance of the young riders as an accident can happen to anyone, but I am proud of how the youngsters got on well with all the overseas competitors, which is a big part of what this competition is about.”