Equestrian

During the weekend of 22 and 23 May 2010 the Auas View Equestrian Club held their yearly tournament, courtesy of main sponsor FNB Namibia with 72 participants. This was the first time that the bank sponsored this tournament although they have been part and parcel of the national equestrian tournaments held over the past few years.

According to Ingrid Goeieman, Manager: Events and Sponsorships at FNB Namibia, the FNB Group is known for its support of local sporting events and this tournament is one of them. FNB supports sport at both club and schools levels.

The Namibia Equestrian Federation (NAMEF) held its first ever awards ceremony on Saturday, 24 April 2010. A total of 47 awards were handed over, of which six were for endurance riding.

“We are very excited that we were successful in starting the annual awards. Our riders, officials and support personnel are doing huge amounts of work and this is evident in the results that the sport is achieving on international stages. We have seen an increase in the quality of our sport and are looking forward to a great 2010 season”, said Riaan van Rooyen, President of NAMEF.

Namibia will host the African Endurance Riding Championships in and around Walvis Bay on Thursday, 3 September. It will be the 14th time that the African Championships are held at this location, which will attract the top riders from the African continent and beyond.

Foreign riders from South Africa, Botswana, The Netherlands and Germany will compete for honours in three different categories, namely the Young Riders, Senior Riders and Heavyweight Senior Riders divisions.

The Gymkhana Club Windhoek, situated in Hegel Street, Academia will be hosting the International FEI Development World Jumping Challenge this coming weekend. The official opening takes place at 13h00 on Saturday.

More than 50 horses have entered the tournament which includes a children’s quadrille that starts at 14h20. A total of 15 riders have entered the FEI World Jumping Challenge.

Namibia’s endurance horse riding teams excelled at the South African International FEI Challenge which recently took place in Beaufort West, South Africa, winning both the Senior Standard Weight and Heavy Weight divisions. Namibia’s individual riders also excelled in their various categories, with several riders winning medals. Namibia competed against the national teams of South Africa, France and Great Britain as well as provincial South African teams.

The Sterling Cup horse race ended in dramatic fashion on Saturday when Polar Pistol and Kingâ??s Lodge crossed the finish line together.

Nothing separated the horses at the finish and the race was declared a tie between the pre-race favourite Polar Pistol, owned by Emil van Wyk, and Kingâ??s Lodge, owned by Emil Freygang.

By Hendrik Grove â?? President of the Namibian Equestrian Tentpegging Association

The Namibian Equestrian Tentpegging Association (NETA) hosted the 2nd Junior World Equestrian Tentpegging Championships under the IETA rules successfully at the Auas View Stables on 17 and 18 August 2007. This large equestrian championship in which Australia, Namibia and South Africa participated was done in co-operation with our sponsors: Pennypinchers, Absolute Logistics, B-Mobile Car Rental, Reinforcing & Allied Industries, Twizza, Etosha Santas, Holcim, Construction Unlimited, Voermeester, Nashua and David Pickard-Cambridge.

South Africa dominated the Junior World Equestrian Tentpegging Championships which took place at the Auas View Stables in Windhoek on Saturday.
South Africa were the overall winners with a total of 654 points, followed by Namibia on 612 and Australia on 535 points.

More than 120 riders participated in the Pennypinchers Auas View Annual Showjumping and Dressage Grading Tournament which took place at the Auas View Stables from May 25 to 27.
The riders came from all over Namibia, while two riders from South Africa also participated.

More than 100 riders and horses participated in the Aida Auas View Annual Equestrian Championships at the Auas Valley Stables in Windhoek on May 27 and 28.
One of the highlights of the event was a new competition, the Verizon Auas View Master Championships, which offered N$5 000 in prize money.