ALBERTON High learner, 16-year-old Tyla Nepgen, will be jetting off to Ireland with four other members of the 2016 South African u.17 team to compete at the Mounted Games World Team Championships. The competition will be held in County Cork, Ireland. The South African invitation team will be competing against 21 other countries from around the globe, including the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia as well as quite a few European countries.
Nepgen only started playing mounted games at the beginning of 2015 and won each of the four South African National Equestrian Schools Association – SANESA – competitions she entered last year. Once established, her riding coach, Felicia Rowan of Jod’s Riding Centre, decided to allow her to ride one of the riding school’s well-schooled ponies, as they are more suitable for mounted games, being closer to the ground and easier to vault on and off at speed.
During the preparation of loan ponies for the local National Team Championships, the riders were tasked with finding suitable ponies for out-of-town riders and getting them games-ready. Nepgen proved that she is more than capable of riding any pony she was tasked to ride. After some deliberation her coach decided to put her name forward for selection for the team to go to Ireland.
Competitions held over the Easter weekend were twofold. SANESA held its first games qualifier for 2016 and she reigned supreme, riding at Level 7, the highest level in SANESA. The Gauteng u.17 A-team, of which she was also a member, was also hugely successful, winning their section for the second year running.
Trials were held this past weekend and Nepgen was selected to join Erin Roos and Rebecca Chapman from Western Province as well as Jayme Tegg and Taro Reece from KwaZulu-Natal to ride in the international competition.
Rowan said, “Congratulations to Tyla on her selection – I knew she was more than capable of making the team. Her parents Leonie and Bennie are also to be commended for being committed and for bringing her to ride three or four times every week – very necessary if one is to compete successfully.”
The Mounted Games Association of SA (MGASA) welcomes sponsors to assist the riders with their expenses, which amount to around R40 000 each. Sponsorship in the form of rider clothing, tack (such as numnahs, mini first-aid kits, subsidised accommodation and flights) will be most welcome in these times of escalating costs and poor exchange rates. Please contact Felicia Rowan on 082 339 9268 if you are willing to help get our young riders to Ireland.
For information regarding mounted games in Gauteng, contact coach Daniel Ferreira on 072 425 3444.
