Sport in brief
Reece Potter at the MTBNZ National Champs in Nelson. Photo: David Chadwick
Local placed in National Champs held in Nelson
Reece Potter placed second in the U19 grade for Down Hill at the MTBNZ National Champs in Nelson. Martin Potter was also there helping with marshalling.
Reece has also won the South Island Down Hill Cup for U19 with points from three races held earlier in January in Queenstown (he came 1st), Dunedin (3rd) and Mt Hutt (2nd).
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Equestrians hold regional three day workshop
Twenty young riders and nine coaches from Golden Bay, Motueka, Nelson Bays, Waimea, and Murchison came together recently to enjoy learning more about the care and welfare of their horses and to develop their riding skills. The riders, who are all working for their pony club certificate at C, C+ and B exams in riding and horse care. The coaches were sharing their coaching ideas and gaining “current updating”. Most were camping onsite at Motueka A & P show grounds.
The full cross country course was used to enable the riders to practice over a wide range of fences – banks, drops, water and fixed wooden jumps. Other practical sessions included show jumping, jump training exercises, dressage and how to work on fitness and conditioning of horses doing faster events, gaining a feel for pace, speed, rhythm and kilometers per hour.
The horse care theory sessions were based on “interactive” fun methods for learning, including effective grooming, equine health and nutrition, caring for stabled and grazing horses, conformation and structure of horses and much much more. The most popular session was building a course of toy show jumps and then using “shrek” horses to jump them – this produced much fun and laughter with learning remembered.
The three days gave young riders, parents and coaches an ideal opportunity to make new friendships as well as gaining a new understanding for what pony club exams are all about. Eight local riders took part in this workshop: Tabea Franke, Marlene Schrader, Frances Clark, Emma Bailey, Emma Udell, Sina Balzer, Uisce Potter- DeBoeck and Ronja Fredrick.
Ongoing training for all equestrian coaches in the top of the south region will be in the form of two evening sessions for an Effective Equestrian Coaching course with Sports Tasman on 24 April and 8 May.
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