SA Pony Rider Championship 2010
The South African Pony Rider championships took place in Johannesburg in the midst of the 2010 world cup!! We arrived in Joburg slap bang in the middle of the the traffic that was heading for the opening soccer match between South Africa and Spain. The mood was, to say the least, electric and Sarchen Gainsford (DSG) and Alison Knight (Kingswood) with ponies in tow could hardly contain their excitement. All we needed in the car were some vuvuzelas! It was really a special moment to arrive with all the children from all over the country but, on arriving at the Kyalami Show grounds the nerves set in very quickly as the competition was huge. Hundreds of children and their ponies were getting ready to compete. The show grounds were magnificent and there was definitely a world cup feeling about, with flags and Shakiras waka waka playing all the time.
Sarchen Gainsford, the only child rider from Grahamstown to be selected for the East Cape team, for the 
second year running did us proud. Her pony, Solero, from Assegaais Stud must not be forgotten in all this hype as Sarchen would be the first one to mention that she is more proud of her pony than her own achievements. They have come a long way together and to get where they are in this sport has taken four years of hard work and discipline.
Most riders, especially from Gauteng, WP, Natal have more than one pony that they ride during the ten days of competition. Sarchen and Alison compete on only one pony for all the various disciplines...jumping, dressage, showing and in some cases cross country.
The Pony Champs started off with the team events and Sarchen was selected to represent EP in the TEAM WORKING HUNTER.
She came 3rd in this interprovincial event out of the top 6 ponies in the country!
For the INDIVIDUAL WORKING HUNTER Sarchen rode like a demon and would certainly have stood a chance at a place, but Solero slipped and both rider and pony hit the ground at pace and there was huge disappointment from spectators and supporters as they were going so well. This is a very exciting event to watch as it is like watching a cross country, jumping fences and hunting for foxes in the English countryside. Sarchen was more worried about Solero than herself at this stage even though she had missed out on a possible rosette in her most favourite discipline.
DRESSAGE
Classes had a minimum of 40 children entered into various individual events and for the dressage there were 60 children in Sarchen’s class. She achieved her highest marks ever for DRESSAGE NOVICE - that of 79% and came 2nd in the country.
She then went on to qualify for the top 15 Dressage riders in the country out of 150 ponies. This is a fantastic achievement.
SHOW HUNTER
She came 4th in her pool out of 30 riders. There are 3 pools of 30 riders and the top 3 in each pool go through to a final competition. She just missed it, but none the less her test was fantastic.
SHOW JUMPING - CB (110 cm),The show jumping takes place on the last 3 days of the 10day championships and by this stage riders and ponies were exhausted ,especially the ponies that are not rotated.
Sarchen jumped clear for the duration of the show which was awesome( jumping clear means that they go into a jump off which is against time).Some children manage to get through a course of 12 jumps in 26 - 28 seconds, which is just frightening. Sarchen and Soleros times were not fast enough. They varied between 35 and 38 seconds, giving one an idea of how competitive and fearless some of these young riders are. By this stage of the competition one could see that Solero was tired, but jumping clear was good enough for Sarchen as this was only her 3rd show jumping at this height. She is extremely satisfied and proud of her and Solero's jumping achievements, as the Kyalami show jumping arena is a very scary track for child and pony, especially coming from Grahamstown.
Despite feeling dread before the show because it was Johannesburg and the WORLD CUP and the masses of spectators, we had a fantastic experience and Sarchen will never forget when someone asks her where she was when South Africa hosted the soccer world cup in 2010.
Results:
TEAM WORKING HUNTER placed 3rd in the interprovincial
INDIVIDUAL WORKING HUNTER Solero slipped taking a tight turn !
INDIVIDUAL SHOW HUNTER placed 4th in her pool of 30
DRESSAGE novice 1 placed 2nd in the country
DRESSAGE overall placed in the top 15 out 150 ponies countrywide
JUMPING CB(110 cm) jumped double clears in all rounds
