Saturday, 11 May saw the inaugural outing for the Downe House show jumping team.

Alex Somerville-Cotton, Elinor Fleming, Victoria Fleming and Minnie Roydon took part in the Inter Schools competition at Royal Windsor Horse Show. This is a very prestigious annual event, and there were 38 schools from all over the country competing for the title.

It was a challenging course at 90cm, with some tricky turns and related distances. We were drawn 36th so it was a long wait for the girls and their horses. Alex, Victoria and Eleanor all rode beautiful clear rounds in very fast times. As the weather turned, a huge gust of wind knocked over several jump wings while Minnie was on the course, but she held her nerve and was unlucky to have a pole. The three clears in the fastest cumulative time of the day were enough to secure a win for the team, making them Windsor Champions.

This was a huge achievement for their first team event.