Daniel Garland (Year 11), wins a New Zealand Equestrian title

New Zealand Pony Club Eventing Championship 2022

NZPC held this year’s eventing championship over three days at Anzac weekend at the Egmont Showgrounds in Hawera. Teams competing were from Otago/Southland, Canterbury, Nelson/ Westcoast/Marlborough, Wellington/Wairarapa, BOP, Waitemata/Rodney and Northland

A Waikato Team of six, plus reserves were selected from recent results gained from the eventing calendar. There are two riders in each of the three Classes. A1, DC and MT.

Daniel Garland and his 16 year old thoroughbred horse “Pick Up Line” (Sarge) were competing in the Mark Todd Secondary School Competition for the first time at Champs.

Day 1 was Dressage and Dan was placed first with a score of 71% . Their best ever. His teammate was second so Waikato was off to a good start with scores of 29 and 31. Two of the other team members had 4th placings.

Day 2 was Cross Country (XC) All of the Waikato team members went clear. Dan had to ride in a heavy shower of rain but was still leading his class at the end of the day.

Day 3 was Showjumping. Sarge has passed the trot up inspection. The leading rider goes last, as the class is run in reverse order there is a lot of pressure to cope with, however, Dan and Sarge went clear and therefore declared winner of the MT class. Zara, his teammate, was second, also clear, so a great result for the Waikato Team. Waikato was also 1st in A1 and 2nd in DC classes.

Team points come from the best four scores.

Results:

NZPCA PERPETUAL CHALLENGE CUP first presented in 1954 - WAIKATO

SIR MARK TODD CHALLENGE CUP: Daniel Garland

MT DRESSAGE CUP: Daniel Garland

MT SECONDARY SCHOOL: Daniel Garland

Daniel reflects on his achievements and performance with his horse 'Sarge'

"I’m so happy with Sarge dealing with the four hour drive down to Taranaki. Sarge coped and he was his best ever. Sarge and I performed probably one of the best dressage tests that we have done, getting 71% and we come out in first place. The cross country was a nice flowing course and Sarge had no problem with it. He picked his pace and stayed with it. We went clear staying in first. On Monday we had our trot up and showjumping. We passed the Trot Up with flying colours. Sarge and I went into the showjumping round knowing that second place had gone clear. My heart was pounding against my chest. Sarge took the reins on the first jump telling me how he wanted to go around the course. I kept the same rhythm and we didn’t get close to touching a rail. We finished in first place winning the Dressage Cup and the Sir Mark Todd Cup for the first time. Being in the Waikato team we won the competition overall. We stayed on our dressage scores the whole way though. The whole team went clear in the cross country but had some minor rails in the showjumping."