In this, her first season off the lead rein, 10 year old jockey Lisa Smart of Cilgerran has spent 2016 competing in dressage competitions with huge success.
Riding her grey Section A mare, Penllyn Mystique, Lisa was selected to compete at the My Quest National Dressage Championships at Burry Farm in Buckinghamshire, and this following her consistent results during the season. The competition, held at a grass roots level of affiliated dressage organised by British Dressage makes the competition fun for all abilities, and during 2016, Lisa has been collecting points that have allowed her to compete at the Championships.
“As the season has gone on, Lisa has accumulated a lot of points and this saw her finishing in the first 20 places on the leader board. She then competed at the Regional Final in Beacons, and finished in the top four which allowed her to qualify for the nationals,” explained her aunty, Anwen Haf Griffiths of Penparc.
Lisa competed in the Intro test of walk and trot and finished in overall 10th position out of 27 junior riders from all over the UK. She was the second youngest jockey in the competition and Anwen is very proud. “Lisa has shown continuous success and has built on it over the season gaining higher percentages. She’s has to learn to ride and not just sit there looking pretty, and she’s had to work at it,” said Anwen who added that Lisa is taught by Judith Allen and has previously had lessons with Ninou Humfrey of the Dyfed Riding Centre.
Lisa was also a member of Team Quest and was the only junior rider in a team of Judith Allen, Lisa O’ Connor, Eleri Wynn Davies and her aunty. Anwen concluded: “ We will now move onto Prelim level next year and we can’t wait for the season to start.”
