What a fabulous time we had at this year at the Pony Club Championships! The weather was very kind to us at Draycott in Derbyshire, and after last year we felt more confident as we knew what to expect.

The Centre Equitation team was made up of Alexa Holland and Sophie Hall riding Benny in the under 13s section, and Claudia Ryan and Kristen Holland riding Dreamer in the 13 and over section. We knew that Benny was an old hand at this kind of competition (he was placed well last year) but Dreamer was a little more of an 'unknown' over fences and likes to have a look at everything before she jumps it! However, the team had put in plenty of practice beforehand with Emma and Anna, so we decided that we would have to see what happened on the day.

The Equitation competition at the Championships is only for Centre members on riding school ponies. Each competitor has to ride a dressage test and jump a round of fences, where they are marked for each fence and for their riding overall. 23 teams took part from riding schools around the country, with over 90 competitors.

The day began with a tack inspection, and then once again Sophie was the first person in her dressage arena at 9am. After attending the area qualifier a few weeks earlier Sophie now knew what to expect and finished the dressage phase in joint second. Kristen was next up, and after working in with all the event horses Dreamer was looking very pleased with herself! They rode a nice test to sit at joint third before the jumping. Benny then went on for his second test with Alexa, and the pair gave it everything to score almost top marks and go into joint first. Their test was just foot perfect and nearly made Emma cry! Claudia was the last to go from MRS, and produced another good test to lie fifth in her arena after the dressage.

After a quick lunch and walking the course it was time to tack up again. The jumping took place in the afternoon, with juniors jumping first but in reverse order. This meant that Alexa was first on with Benny, and the pair breezed around the course, riding accurate lines and making good use of the arena. They jumped a lovely clear to score even better than they had in the morning to keep their first place and put them several points clear of their closest rival. Sophie's round was also a pleasure to watch from the moment she saluted to begin to her landing from the last fence. She and Benny made a good pair and they too scored even better than they had in the morning.

Claudia was the first to jump Dreamer, and she had the hardest job of all as the big grey mare wasn't sure about all those flags and flowerpots! However, with a great display of tactical riding and keeping calm Claudia did manage to get her round with only a couple of stops. Now that she had seen the jumps Dreamer then flew round for Kristen, gaining the necessary marks to put the team in contention for a placing. It truely was a team effort, as Claudia persevering and getting over each fence enabled Kristen to score well, thus helping the team due to Kristen having the higher dressage mark... (are you still with us?!)

After the final jump round all we could do was wait for the team scores to be worked out. We knew that Alexa had won the individual and that Sophie was third, but we still had to find out where the older girls had placed and, more importantly, had we made it onto the podium? Mr Holland did some nifty mathematics to work out what we needed to win or come second, but no-one could take the pressure of waiting so it was off for a last trip round the stands before the presentation.

To our delight we had come second out of the 23 teams! Sadly we were just 0.66 of a point off first place, but it didn't matter. We were thrilled to be up on the podium and all four girls knew that they had ridden well. When the individual results were announced, Alexa and Benny had deservedly won their section with several points to spare. Sophie was third in hers, Kristen was fourth and Claudia was 18th. They all ended up covered in rosettes, sashes, cups and salvers!

We would like to say a massive THANK YOU to Lucy Goler for all her hard work in organising the Centre competition, and to all the judges and the very helpful stewards (who would always try to assist no matter how busy they were!). Once again we have had another great year at the Championships.

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