On 26th April, 2014, show jumpers gathered at Cayman Riding School’s Hirst Road arena for the penultimate leg of Cayman’s National Show Jumping League.

Quarantine restrictions at the Equestrian Centre left only Cayman Riding School riders on the order of go but in a rational imitation of the best of theatrical traditions, the show continued on.

The slimmed down starting order left Juliette Forrester on Apollo in a class of her own in the 0.6m adults which kicked off the show. Undeterred she delivered a text book clear round with a time of 64.20, the fastest adult time of the day. In the 0.7m adults class, Michelle Boucher, who was alone in the class, also posted a lovely clear round in 66.12 seconds.

The lower height kids classes are always the larger classes and despite the absence of the EC riders, this was still the case. Lea Rado, riding her new horse, Never Ending Story, in the league for the first time, was eager to enter the fray. In an ideal clear round that wowed a surprised crowd, Lea Rado finished in the second fastest time of the day to take first place in the 0.6m juniors’ class with a time of 53.77 seconds. Jenna Boucher, who had done a similar thing on Katrina when she entered the league in 2013, finished second. Chloe Fowler and Shirley were third, Meegan Slattery and Max fourth and Eva Muspratt and Oscar fifth.

In the 0.7m juniors’ class Lea Rado and Jenna Boucher fought it out for the top spot again but this time Jenna Boucher and Katrina took first place with a time of 52.80 seconds, the fastest time of the day, with Lea Rado a close second with 54.55 seconds. Hannah Fowler, came in third and fourth place on Harry and Seligkeit respectively, with sister Chloe Fowler and Shirley Temple in fifth.

As the heights went up, the competitors thinned out in the absence of the EC competition. Michelle Boucher and Alex Rado dueled it out in the 0.85m adults class, both posting clear rounds leaving time as the deciding factor. Michelle Boucher pipped Alex Rado to the post with a time of 69.04 seconds with Rado just over 5 seconds behind her. Hannah Fowler, taking her young horse to 0.85m for the first time in a competition, was sole entrant in the 0.85m class and collected 12 faults in the field and two time faults to finish with a time of 84.32.

The riders have been fine tuning their jumping skills in preparation for the final leg of the jumping league at the end of May. It promises to be a nail biting finish to the 2014 league. The winners of leg 4 will decide the Champions and Reserve Champions of each class in the league for 2014.