Interested in finding out how to represent your school at the Interschool competitions? Glover Paddocks can help you do that!
Glover Paddocks can help you achieve regional colours, school colours and even Gauteng colours. We have a very strong knowledge of how the sport works for schools and how our riders need to enter and participate in order to achieve – hence our very high success rate every year!
We have riders who compete at numerous schools who regularly win the schools division, plus top rider awards, top discipline awards… most of whose riders learn their skill at Glover Paddocks. If your school doesn’t have a team – talk to us and we’ll explain the process.
We allow school horses & ponies to be taken to shows – it is a great opportunity for riders at Glover Paddocks and you never know – your child could be a star in the making!
Even if you don’t want to be too competitive early on, it’s a wonderful way to start going to shows, having some fun and learning more about other disciplines, whilst being supervised.
Riding for Your School FAQs
Who is eligible to ride?
If you attend any private or government school from grade 0 to grade 12 you are eligible to ride for your school.
What experience is required?
You may ride for your school from level 0 i.e. if you are on a lead rein to the most advanced level.
Do you need your own pony?
Not at Glover Paddocks. We will provide a suitable pony/horse for you for all or most riding disciplines.
It is not necessary to bait a pony although we do strongly advice a half bait if possible. However if that is not an option the riders will have to do two lessons a week. It just simply not possible to ride competitively or professionally on less than that. School shows are not like training shows… they do need to be treated as a graded show regardless on the level the rider is riding at.
How do I get my pony there, how do we register for schools and enter?
We will arrange the boxing, grooms etc for the show. We will assist you to register your school and yourself (see meeting date for details).
Costs
We have done everything we can to assist in keeping the costs down in order to allow as many riders as possible to attend… see below for more details.
Share of the groom (amongst 4 horses)
Use of the horse/show assistance – R150.00 for the day. (The few yards that do allow their school ponies to go to the show charge R150 for the pony and R150 for show assistance).
Boxing costs (the pony goes in the float)
Entry fees for your classes.
Grooms food and pay for the day.
Details of costs will be presented at the meeting once they have been worked out.
When and how often are the shows?
Four qualifying shows are held during the year. The first one will be end of January. Qualifying shows are then followed by the regional finals and then comes the national final. Full details of how the competition works and how to qualify will be in a hand out at our meeting.
Why should you ride for your school?
Although we have had riders for school shows for the last 10 years, it has been in the last 4 years that it has become an exceptional sport for a number of reasons:
It is now a government recognised school sport. So schools do have to recognise their riders, award sterling points for participation in extra murals (your instructor signs off on your list) and awards colours based on the school colours criteria.
Riders can achieve regional and provincial colours for their school (many of our riders achieved this last year).
The school sports league has also been registered with the Gauteng Horse Society, meaning our professional (graded) riders can now ride for school shows and retain their professional standing. This has dramatically lifted the standard of the sport – as only qualified graded show judges may judge at the competitions and only qualified course builders may build the courses.
School sport has allowed riders who don’t have their own horses to compete at a professional show on borrowed horses – this option has never been available before (obviously providing their stable yard provides suitable mounts for them).
The sport has grown exponentially over the last few years, and we have made sure at Glover we are in a position to provide excellent mounts with excellent instruction to ensure all our riders have a fighting chance in the competition.