Course holds debut event
The Eventing Southland folk were a pretty chuffed lot out at Gore yesterday, and they had every right to be.
Eventing Southland ran its first ever event on the upgraded cross country course at the Gore Racecourse.
Riders had previously used the course for training, but through a lot of volunteer input, and some financial backing from the Mataura Licensing Trust and the Transpower Community Care Fund, the course was upgraded to competition standard.
The project was a collaboration between Eventing Southland and the Gore Pony Club, while the Gore Racing Club also entered an agreement to allow the cross country course to run over part of the race course.
Eventing Southland president Lauren Tippett was delighted when the riders started to take to the track for the first time yesterday.
All up there was 108 entries for the one-day trial with riders coming from throughout Southland and Otago.
Tippett expected that number to grow as the cross country course at Gore grows in popularity.
‘‘I don’t think people realise how big [horse riding] is in Southland. There are a lot of people into it.’’
There is plans to develop the course further in the future as Gore grows as an equestrian hub.
The addition of the Gore course means Eventing Southland now has three cross country courses to use in the province, with the others at Donovan Park in Invercargill and at Ryal Bush.
One of the early riders, Lana Medder, gave the course a big thumbs up after completing her ride on horse Peti Peti Wai. ‘‘It’s such a cool course. He had his moments on the water jump but we got there. He got around the course really well.’’
Yesterday’s event was a good test for horses and riders in preparation for the final event of the Eventing Southland season which is its international FEI event on March 30 at Ryal Bush Eventing Centre.