Local riders represent Area 5 at Sydney Royal Easter Show

Jake Tomlinson and his horse Marley Benjara from Forbes, Jorja Rusten and her horse Empire Shadow from Trundle, Victoria Wythes and her horse Harvest Liason and Rianna Reeves and her horse Ennovyar Cest Moi from Canowindra all qualified and were chosen to represent Area 5.

Area 5 consists of five different Pony Club Zones, Zone 2,11,12, 20 and 21. Zone 2 has 10 Clubs, Zone 11 has seven Clubs, Zone 12 has six Clubs, Zone 20 has 10 Clubs and Zone 21 has five Clubs.

Area 5 covers many towns and extends to as far as Tullamore and Peak Hill to the North, Corowa and Jingellic to the South, Griffith and Coleambally to the West and Boorowa and Cowra to the East.

Each Zone has two delegates to represent them at Area 5 meetings. One of these delegates is elected as the selector to pick a Team of Show Jumpers to represent the Area at Sydney Royal Easter Show.

The Area 5 Showjumping team was managed by Kylie Reeves, who was very proud of the team, who had to do a lot of hard work and had some tough competition just to be selected to represent the Area.

"It's a massive pool that the riders are drawn from," Kylie said.

"They need to be A graded riders, so jumping 1.05m to 1.10m and then there's a selection process."

The riders must compete in a series of qualifier events throughout the Area to be considered, selectors also make sure that all riders are active members of their local Pony Clubs and attend rally days and Pony Club events.

"Quite often the riders compete in open classes as well," Kylie said.

Open classes include showjumping competitions held by Jump Clubs or at local ag shows. The majority of the competitors also compete in the Pony Club State Championships as well.

The selectors not only take all of the criteria into consideration but the performance of the horse and rider combos at the events that they compete in.

Out of the huge area Jake, Jorja, Tori and Rianna were selected. With her daughter Rianna nominating Kylie stepped back from the selector role this year.

Unlike normal showjumping which is an individual sport, the Pony Club Showjumping at Sydney Royal was a team event, meaning that the team of riders with the least amount of faults or penalties would be named the winner.

There was also an individual component with the best boy and the best girl rider to be awarded with Jake winning the boy's award as the only male to go clear on the day.

"It's quite a big atmosphere," Kylie said of riding in the Sydney arena.

"To attend the Royal is pretty exciting for the kids to get selected to go, it's one of the highlights of a showjumper in Pony Club to get to go to the Royal.

"It's a stepping stone for these young riders for big open classes at the Royal if you're going to showjump there."

Though the team didn't make it to the second round jump off they not only did themselves proud but the whole area with a very intimidating jump 2 and with an almost frenetic atmosphere.

Where the riders were competing there were people in the stands, they were seeing themselves on the big screen, commentators were talking about them and other events that were going on and right behind the ring the Team of Four riders events were going on.

Jake and Marley Benjara and Rianna and Ennovyar C'est Moi were two of only seven riders who went clear through the competition of 24 riders.

Jake was first in the ring for Area 5 which was the fourth team to go. Prior to Jake going out there had only been one clear round with Jake keeping calm and cool and powering through the course to finish in the time and clear.

Jorja went second and had some bad luck after Empire Shadow hesitated at the first and knocked the poles they tripped and resulted in an elimination as she fell. It was reported that it was her first ever fall from Empire Shadow.

Tori and Harvest Liaison were up next with the added pressure of having watched their team mate fall. The pair approached the first and had a refusal before clearing. Heading on to the very intimidating second jump, a jump with a large bright blue water tray sticking out the bottom, Tori wasn't able to get enough forward momentum to push Liaison over and was unfortunately eliminated.

Rianna was last up for the Area 5 team. Keeping a calm head she guided Ennovyar C'est Moi around the course making it look easy to be the second clear for the team and the third clear for the day.

Even with the two clear rounds in their pocket the very successful Area 1 team managed all four riders to go clear putting them in the lead. With two eliminations in the Area 5 team they were unable to proceed to the jump off round.

However, that has not stopped locals from congratulating the team who did an amazing job just to ride at the event. All of the riders and horses should be commended on their fantastic attitude and dedication in representing Area 5. Well done to you all!