Two Hāwea-based pony club riders combined with another rider from Clyde to win the Otago Southland Area Pony Club Dressage event in Gore last weekend.

Hāwea-Wānaka Pony Club members Bella Edwards (13) and Montana Hewson (17) joined Clyde Pony Club member Sofia Hviid (17) to win the team dressage in a closely fought one-day competition.

Each had to ride three tests in the one day and, Bella said, the 16 teams entered from all over Otago and Southland were pretty evenly matched with only a few points separating the top three teams at Gore’s Equestrian Centre.

It wasn’t the first time Bella and Montana have ridden together in a pony club team’s event; both are experienced equestriennes having ridden at a good number of competitions, including the prestigious Springston Trophy. But Sofia was new to the team as they hadn’t met before the event.

Bella Edwards rides Little Ginge in one of three dressage tests.

Bella rode her 15-year old small, chestnut hack ‘Little Ginge’, who is a dressage specialist, and Montana rode her experienced eventer and showjumper ‘Southern Charm’, while Sofia rode her Irish Cob stallion Brackenhill Dusk.

“We were all pretty consistent across each of our tests,” Bella said, attributing the team win to this consistency and hours of practice leading up to the event.

Sofia Hviid riding her Irish cob.

It also wasn’t the first time Bella had ridden on Gore’s sand arena, having competed with her showjumper ‘Kiri’ at Labour Weekend this year, bringing home a first, a second and two thirds in the 90cm and 1m showjumping events.

Earlier this year, Montana was selected to join the Otago Southland Area team to compete at this year’s New Zealand Pony Club’s National Eventing Championships. It was the first time in many years that a local rider had been selected to ride at the National Eventing Champs.

PHOTOS: Supplied