GREAT Broughton's Fiona Leng finished in the prizes at the 2008 National Pony Club Novice Championships at Sandbach in Cheshire.
The Championships are a relatively new addition to the Pony Club calendar and are geared to younger riders but the standards are still impressively high, Fiona pictured with her pony Riverwave.
Fiona, 14 and a member of the Cleveland Hunt Pony Club, was in action in the Eventing Championships which consist of the three phases of dressage, cross country and show jumping and call for all round ability from both pony and rider.
The Stokesley School pupil finished second in her arena, one of six individual competitions in the Championship, riding her 15 hands Connemara cross thoroughbred dapple grey gelding Riverwave.
"Fiona only started riding the horse at the start of the year and he is on loan to her," said mum Janet.
"It was her second time at the Eventing Championships but last year she wasn't placed. This time she was thrilled with her dressage score of 30.3, and was in equal fifth at that stage."
The pair then rose up the order with a clear cross country round before adding three time penalties to their score in the show jumping which proved just enough to cost them the top spot but leave them in a still highly commendable second place.
"Fiona really enjoyed the cross country course," said Janet. "There were a few bogey fences she jumped well and the ground was fantastic.
"She had also been in the Cleveland show jumping team the day before the eventing finals, where she jumped a double clear and well inside the time.
"In the eventing phase they'd made the jumps a bit smaller, taken out a double and tightened up the time. Fiona hadn't realised and picked up those few penalties."
The teenager, who is trained by Claire Dryden, also takes part in team chases, hunts and successfully shows Riverwave in Working Hunter classes. The duo had qualified for the recent British Show Pony Society Championships, one of the showing world's top dates held at Arena UK, but were unable to go as the date clashed with the Pony Club finals.
Fiona's Cleveland Hunt team-mates in the Show Jumping Championship were 12-year-old Sophie Dicken on Magic, who jumped clear in the first of the two rounds, Jenny Chapman, 14, on Nick and Enrico Bellina, 13, on Megan.
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