The Snowy Mountains Showjumping Festival was held at Cooma

							The Snowy Mountains Showjumping Festival was held at Cooma Showgrounds
early in January. The event saw 5 days of top class showjumping attracting riders
from many parts of NSW and Victoria, and offering many of our local riders the
chance to compete with and to watch some of Australia’s best showjump riders and
horses.

The event attracted some 180 riders and over 420 horses, who, together with their
families and assistants made Cooma their home for a week, and anyone who drove
past the Showground would have seen just how busy and alive the facility was. Many
local businesses also benefited as the visitors made use of the Restaurants, shops, fuel
outlets, produce stores, cinema and the pool. A special thanks to the Ambulance
officers and Staff at Cooma Hospital who responded very quickly and professionally
to the calls for the couple of unfortunate accidents that occurred. Happily all those
injured are now back in the saddle again.

The major event of the competition, The Grand Prix provided some fantastic jumping
and spectators were able to witness horses soaring over 1.45m fences set in a very
technical course, the work of world-renowned course builder Lisen Sirett. The
eventual winner of the event was Grant Hughes from Canberra but he was given a run
for his money by a new face at this level, 16 year-old Clint Beresford from Bega.
Clint has had a very successful year in the Junior ranks and he chose Cooma as the
venue to step up into open competition, riding his first Grand Prix and finishing in
third place – a magnificent effort.

Competition in the B-Ring was also very strong with many senior riders taking the
opportunity to start their young horses and progress them through the height classes
over the course of the 5 days. This ring also saw some fierce competition from the
many juniors who are currently either just starting out in showjumping or who are
working toward the open Junior and Young Rider standards

The major sponsor for the event was 2020 Financial Solutions from Jindabyne and
everyone was very appreciative of their support and of the many other sponsors who
gave to make the event happen. Thank you to the Riverina Jump Club and the ACT
Jump club who provided and operated the electronic timing equipment for the show.
The support of all the volunteers who marshalled, time kept, pencilled and picked up
rails was fantastic, making the whole show a community affair. A Riders Bar-B-Que
held on the Wednesday evening gave everyone a chance to mingle and share the good
and the bad tales.

The event was voted a huge success on all fronts and we look forward to making it
bigger and better in 2010. The Snowy Mountains Showjumping Festival has now
become an item on the local calendar for future years.

Tim Dreverman
Convenor