Five show jumpers of the Free State won top positions at the national awards for showing, just released by SA Showing.
Four of these are from Welkom, and one from Bloemfontein.
The top riders from Welkom are Panayiotis Eliades, Breeya Bortolussi, Ryan Martin and Jesslyn Bothma.
The top achiever from Bloemfontein is Mia van der Merwe (12) of the Laer Meisieskool Oranje and her horse, Kochra Bannut Zanzib, who came fifth in South Africa for Open Showing Pony. Mia is of the Pony Academy in Bloemfontein.
SA Showing accumulated all the points that each rider in South Africa achieves in Showing during the year, and the awards are based on this calculation. The 2024 results will only be released in 2025.
Ryan (18) of the Brainline online school and horse Callaho Larina placed first in South Africa for the Junior Novice Working Hunter category, and with Kadush he came second in the Junior Open Working Hunter division.
Panayiotis Eliades (13) of the St Dominic’s College and Shangar won third place for Novice Working Riding, Jesslyn Bothma (17) home schooled, and Claim the Roses came second for Novice Working Riding Horse. Breeya Bortolussi (18) of St Dominic’s and Bridal Veil won third place for Junior Novice Show Horse and fifth place for Junior Novice Working Hunter.
Graded riders can achieve points at any graded show, like the SA Youth Championships, or even at a Level 5 to Level 7 South African National Equestrians for Schools Association (Sanesa).
Level 5 points will count towards the Novice classes and Level 7 towards the Open classes.
Riders compete individually and in teams during the SA Championships. The Free State riders won seven of the national awards.
From next year Ryan and Breeya will be competing as adults.
