It was a fantastic day out for several members of the Pocklington School Equestrian Team in Northallerton last week, where they were competing to qualify for the NSEA National Championships in October in a discipline called Jumping with Style (JWS).

Clare Bracken, Deputy Head (Staff and Development) and Head of Equestrian at Pocklington School, gave the following account of the day:

"JWS is a strange event in that, apart from having to jump over a course of fences where the first phase are show jumps and the latter are cross-country style fences, there are riding style marks and an optimum time to contend with!

"Sophia Elliott started the day off with a cracking round on her new pony Bobby, going clear and coming 5th in the 70cm. The 90cm class was the only class where we actually had a team but with three riders there was no scope to drop a score. It was a tough course and we were very surprised to win and learn that we were the only school to get all our riders round. How Martha Lee stayed on over the final fence with poles flying around her – I will never know! The judges comment on her score sheet was 'super balance and independent seat'.

"Congratulations to Martha, Daisy Shepherd and Sophia; Daisy came 3rd individually, so as well as a team qualification she will compete as an individual in the Championships in October. Martha also executed a lovely round in the 1m class on her new horse Koko securing 4th place and a qualification place too."