On the 30th April Riders and Supporters from 15 countries from all over the world arrived at the beautiful equestrian centre in Leuven. Everything you need for a SRNC was all in one place. There is no question to why people love SRNC Belgium, but this year there were 3 surprises. Jacuzzis!!

So as you can imagine when every-one arrived it was into the Jacuzzi but they weren’t as warm as we thought but still people were brave and got in. I included. As always the first night is the fancy dress but this year the Belgium student riders decided to have two which was a great idea so the first night was “Hollywood” so as you can imagine there were plenty of funny, bizarre and of course some strange one’s still to this day I’m not sure who they were meant to be. But apart from this beauty, there was alot of time put into some of the costumes. Weldone to the Bob Sleigh teams!!

So after a great night of seeing old friends and meeting new ones it was Friday and time for dressage so all the riders were up, had breakfast and were ready to start by 8.30 am. Teams did their tests as teams and we saw some very well synchronised tests.
During lunch the riders who proceeded into the second round were announced and it was time for the second round to start. Here we saw riders battle it out to reach the semi finals.

Friday night was again a themed party and this time it was “Bay Watch”. So after a well deserved beverage every-one got changed and met in the bar where there was an amazing BBQ being put on for every-one by one of the Belgium students Father. It was great.

Saturday came and it was the first and second round of the Show Jumping stage. For the first round the riders are judged on their style and fluency of their round. Second round then judged on faults then style. Here we saw some great rounds and one or two little falls but luckily no-one was hurt.

After a long day of jumping for riders and horses the day came to a close not too late which was good so it gave people a time to either have a little sleep or chill out with friends by the bar before getting ready for the Gala Ball which was being held in a local hotel. Once we got every-one on the bus, eventually, after a supporter ended up getting ready on the bus hmmm hahaha, it was time to go and off we went...

We were greeted by a wonderful Champaign reception and then treated to a beautiful 3 course meal which included a selection of sea food. With every-one dressed up in Black tie attire it was a lovely scene. And of course there had to be a round of “Singing in the rain” and believe it or not even the International Judge from England joined in. What a hero.

Sunday was the final day of competition and would determine the winners of SRNC Belgium. First it was Dressage and in the semi final 6 riders fought it out for the two places in the final and it was 2 Germany riders Jan Theyman and Christine Friederick who battled it out over 4 rounds and it was victory for Christine who was named SRNC Dressage winner.

Next up was the Show Jumping the grand finale. Again in the semi-final 6 riders jumped a competitive course to reach the final and from the host nation of Belgium Daan De Cleene and Canadian rider Susan Horn who met in the final. After 4 rounds of great jumping over a 1.30 track it was Daan from Belgium who took the spoils but only clinched the win by one fence (4 Penalties).

These results help determine the team results in dressage, showjumping and the combined competition. Showjumping team winners were the host nation Belgium of Leen Geysen, Daan De Cleene, Thomas Verkinderen. International 3 (three riders from different countries) won the Dressage – Alexandra Schwegemon, Aurelie Henry and Charlotte Rachel Lumley Williams. The combined team winners were the Irish made up of Suzie Cave, Sarah Gylnn and Anthony Byrne. Our overall Individual SRNC winner was the famous Irish rider Ms. Suzie Cave, who reached the semi-finals in both disciplines – well done Suzie!

As everybody knows there are also all the fun prizes: Baggers, anti-baggers and survivors. It was a host nation triumph with Deiter winning anti-baggers and Nikki winning baggers (very popular ? with the guys) Survivors, the prize most countries want to win to prove their strength went to the one, the only, The Green Island Army of Ireland!