Post by *HorsePower* on Jul 20, 2006 14:37:22 GMT 2
Unbeknown to many of you, SANEF managed to put a team together to compete in the Nations Cup in Lisbon from 1-4 June 2006.
Congratulations go to Shaun Neill, Barry Taylor, Charles Luyckx and Oliver Lazarus who all achieved Protea Colours for their selection and participation in this event. Bob Neill, who was Chef d'Equipe, gave the following report back.
The show commenced on Thursday 1st June. Our riders all started in the "smaller classes" ... if you call 140cm small. Shaun Neill on Cabri d'Elle had 1 time penalty in the 1st round, Charles Luyckx on Presco had 8 penalties in the jump-off, and Oliver Lazarus on Cassiano Z (Goofy) jumped in the 145 and had 4 penalties in the first round. Not bad for starters.
On Friday 2 June, Barry Taylor, riding Shaun Neill's horse Duxy, jumped in the 140 and jumped a clear round, and in the 145 Shaun Neill had 4 penalties. Oliver and Charles decided to jump in the Grand Prix and incurred 17 and 22 penalties respectively. It was a very difficult track with the last line, consisting of a treble combination with an upright to oxer to oxer, then 4 or 5 strides to a big vertical, proving to be the downfall of the majority of the class.
On Saturday 3 June, Shaun gave Cabri the day off to save him for the Nations Cup. Oliver rode in the 140 class, incurring 8 penalties.
Barry and Charles then did South Africa proud, both riding in the 150 class, with Barry achieving a 4th place and Charles a 5th place - great excitement to have two South Africans in the line up.
Then came the Nations Cup on Sunday 4th June. It was fantastic to be there and the atmosphere was awesome with the grand stands filled to capacity.
It was arranged for the team to go into the parade using borrowed horses, which were not competing in that class, as the heat was unbearable. While the horses were waiting in the collecting ring, they had wet towels placed over their heads to try and cool them down. The riders had to ensure they drank sufficient quantities of water to prevent them from dehydrating.
On a technical note, the track was nothing like we encounter in South Africa. There were three sets of doubles. All the oxers were between 1.6 and 2.0m wide, and the triple bar was 2.2m wide, with the minimum height of the jumps being 1.60m.
Charles Luyckx was first to go in and incurred 12 penalties, then it was Oliver Lazarus in with another 12 penalties. Next was Shaun Neill with a total of 5 penalties, one being for time, and finally Barry went incurring 4 penalties. Total penalties for South Africa was 21, which prevented our team from going through to the second round. But to put things into perspective, we were only 1 penalty behind Spain, one rail behind Italy and Belgium and two rails behind Great Britain after the first round - not bad for our first Nations Cup!
Congratulations go to Shaun Neill, Barry Taylor, Charles Luyckx and Oliver Lazarus who all achieved Protea Colours for their selection and participation in this event. Bob Neill, who was Chef d'Equipe, gave the following report back.
The show commenced on Thursday 1st June. Our riders all started in the "smaller classes" ... if you call 140cm small. Shaun Neill on Cabri d'Elle had 1 time penalty in the 1st round, Charles Luyckx on Presco had 8 penalties in the jump-off, and Oliver Lazarus on Cassiano Z (Goofy) jumped in the 145 and had 4 penalties in the first round. Not bad for starters.
On Friday 2 June, Barry Taylor, riding Shaun Neill's horse Duxy, jumped in the 140 and jumped a clear round, and in the 145 Shaun Neill had 4 penalties. Oliver and Charles decided to jump in the Grand Prix and incurred 17 and 22 penalties respectively. It was a very difficult track with the last line, consisting of a treble combination with an upright to oxer to oxer, then 4 or 5 strides to a big vertical, proving to be the downfall of the majority of the class.
On Saturday 3 June, Shaun gave Cabri the day off to save him for the Nations Cup. Oliver rode in the 140 class, incurring 8 penalties.
Barry and Charles then did South Africa proud, both riding in the 150 class, with Barry achieving a 4th place and Charles a 5th place - great excitement to have two South Africans in the line up.
Then came the Nations Cup on Sunday 4th June. It was fantastic to be there and the atmosphere was awesome with the grand stands filled to capacity.
It was arranged for the team to go into the parade using borrowed horses, which were not competing in that class, as the heat was unbearable. While the horses were waiting in the collecting ring, they had wet towels placed over their heads to try and cool them down. The riders had to ensure they drank sufficient quantities of water to prevent them from dehydrating.
On a technical note, the track was nothing like we encounter in South Africa. There were three sets of doubles. All the oxers were between 1.6 and 2.0m wide, and the triple bar was 2.2m wide, with the minimum height of the jumps being 1.60m.
Charles Luyckx was first to go in and incurred 12 penalties, then it was Oliver Lazarus in with another 12 penalties. Next was Shaun Neill with a total of 5 penalties, one being for time, and finally Barry went incurring 4 penalties. Total penalties for South Africa was 21, which prevented our team from going through to the second round. But to put things into perspective, we were only 1 penalty behind Spain, one rail behind Italy and Belgium and two rails behind Great Britain after the first round - not bad for our first Nations Cup!