The South African National Equestrian School Association (Sanesa) in Gauteng West will hold all four of its qualifier rounds at Maple Ridge Equestrian Farm.
On Sunday, 13 May, they held the third round of qualifiers, and the participants stunned the judges. During the weekend, the high and primary school riders competed to qualify for the upcoming provincial and national events.
After all four qualifiers, the teams will be selected according to how well the riders have done. These teams will then compete at regional level against the other Gauteng regions. After that event, the Gauteng teams will be selected. The Gauteng team will then compete against all the other provinces in the Sanesa Nationals.
The different disciplines include show jumping, showing, equitation, and dressage. The next qualifier round will take place on Saturday 2, and Sunday 3 June at Maple Ridge Equestrian Farm. There will be parades on both days as this is the final qualifier.
Sanesa is a vibrant and dynamic organisation, acknowledged by the South African Equestrian Federation (SAEF) and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), and has dedicated itself to promoting all forms of equestrian sport within the South African schools’ community.
The members of Sanesa (the schools) are represented by their learners. Riders do not need to belong to any other equestrian association or club in order to participate at a Sanesa event.
Currently, they have 15 diverse equestrian competition disciplines. Each province in South Africa has Sanesa representation and some provinces are also broken up into districts. Every province/ district holds up to four multi-discipline competitions in the first seven months of the year and then the top eight riders with the most accumulated points in each discipline go forward to represent their province at the annual Sanesa National Championships during September/ October.
Photos: Submitted.
It is not essential for anyone to actually own their own horse or pony to participate in Sanesa – many riding school pupils compete with success at events on borrowed horses/ ponies.
Sanesa is striving to ensure that it is an all inclusive organisation and that no one who wishes to compete is disadvantaged in any way.
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