GRACE Trinity equestrians wrote their way into the record books this year when both the Primary and High Schools won South African National Equestrian Schools Association (Sanesa) trophies at the recent Sedibeng Awards evening.
The Primary School placed first and the High School second in the region. In addition, Grace Trinity High placed sixth overall in the Gauteng province, another first for a Sedibeng-based school. Eight Grace Trinity High and four Primary School riders competed this year.
Riders compete over four qualifiers and the top eight riders in each discipline and level are up for selection to compete at the Gauteng finals. The Gauteng regions are Sedibeng, Ekhurhuleni North, West and Metro. The top 12 riders in each discipline and level are then up for selection to represent Gauteng at the national competition. Over 11 000 entries were received in Gauteng alone.
The core disciplines include jumping, dressage, prix caprilli, working riding, performance riding, equitation, extreme equitation, in-hand utility and working hunter. Other stand-alone disciplines are eventing, endurance, English and Western Mounted Games, extreme obstacle and tent pegging. The stand-alone events are not available at regional level. Competitors for these disciplines need to qualify for the Gauteng teams.
The Grace Trinity star for 2015 is Tyla Nepgen who qualified in seven core disciplines for the Sedibeng Region. At the Gauteng finals, she qualified in five disciplines and was placed in eighth position overall – the first time a Sedibeng rider has been ranked in the top 10 riders of all schools in Gauteng. She also qualified for the English Mounted Games. At the Sanesa national competition, Nepgen placed third in working hunter and fourth in equitation in large classes of 35 riders each. She also received two firsts, a third and a fourth for team placings.
Chantelle Bennett qualified for Sedibeng in six disciplines and in three for nationals where she placed 12th in her jumping class while Simone Martins placed third in prix caprilli.
