Nissan Easter Festival grass-roots showjumping development clinic welcomes children
KYALAMI – Here's all you need to know about the annual Nissan Easter Festival Grass-roots Showjumping Development Clinic.
Giving a child an experience to learn how to ride a horse and learn the showjumping world is the core aim of the Thandi programme which is done by the Team Nissan Showjumping team.
In light of the Nissan Easter Festival, the children of the Thandi programme will have a Grass-roots Day as part of the team’s showjumping development clinic on 24 March from 9.30am at Kyalami Equestrian Park.
According to the public relations officer of the Nissan Easter Festival, Caroline Malan, last year they replaced their sixth rider with an equestrian development programme which they named ‘Thandi’ which meant ‘loved one’ or ‘beloved’ which was also an acronym for the Heritage and Nissan Development Initiative.
The founder of the Heritage and Nissan Development Initiative, Wendy Gidlow, stated that the original equestrian programme was started by herself and her husband. “We started with a group of teenagers from the Kwena-Molapo Secondary School and at its most successful catered for 24 learners aged 14 to18.”
She added that all of the children are from extremely underprivileged backgrounds and many had never been exposed to horses or riding in any form. “The support from Team Nissan Showjumping allows us to now transport children to lessons, open up new career paths for them, supports the transformation imperatives of the South African society and of course provides a platform for the integration of children of diverse socio-economic backgrounds.”
Gidlow said that the equestrian programme continued to cover a wide variety of activities including basic knowledge of and respect for horses, basic horsemanship, horse care and grooming, the use of and caring for tack and equipment, competition rules and etiquette and showjumping and flatwork.
“It gives me immense satisfaction to see all these previously disadvantaged children and adults have the opportunity to train with the Team Nissan riders, to mix with them and gain knowledge,” renowned showjumper and Team Nissan Showjumping member, Barry Taylor said.
The programme comprised at the outset of three children ages seven to eight from Footprints, three teenagers from Kwena Molapo Secondary School who have never ridden and one advanced rider from the same secondary school who will compete in the 90cm grade at Sanesa West qualifiers.
The children are set to be trained by the highly accomplished instructor and rider, Tamar Gliksman, at Farnham Riding School in Kyalami.
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