ST LEONARDS Equestrian Centre hosted a British Eventing event at Polson on Sunday, July 24.

As only one of two British Eventing events still running in Cornwall, the demand and interest was high.

With entries up by over 50% on last year and visitors from as far a field as Grimsby, the showers certainly didn’t spoil a fun packed day for competitors and spectators alike.

Organised by Andy and Kathryn Reeve, owners of St Leonards, the new Terry Graves Electrical lake complex and Alice in Wonderland themed course alongside the D S Smith Castle certainly asked enough questions to require some extremely precise riding.

Local riders certainly appreciated the generous prize money kindly donated from local businesses who have sponsored this event since it started four years ago.

Andy and Kathryn have big plans for the event and want the riders who support them to make it feel worthwhile.

Andy said: “Eventing is a very expensive sport with often little reward. I think it’s important to be able to give something back to the sport and I want Launceston Horse Trials to continue to thrive, which is why we will endeavor to continue to provide such fantastic prize money for our riders.

“Next year we will have further exciting improvements to the course which will hopefully grow the event over two days and see riders coming from further afield.”

In the arena there was certainly plenty of local success.

North Cornwall’s Karen Cowling enjoyed a double win with Missy III and Katie V who both finished on their dressage score.

The best dressage of the day went to Alex Reeve and her own Florrie II who scored a very impressive 16 and then jumped a very smart double clear to finish at the top of the leaderboard by a clear seven marks.

Meanwhile Lizzie Luxton dominated the 100 sections on the three different horses, all with very impressive dressage scores and looked very stylish across the country.

Lizzie was extremely pleased with her performance and the event as a whole.

She said: “This years Launceston horse trials can only be described as a success. The new show jumping arena offered a unique atmosphere and the cross country course is improving all the time, especially with a new water feature this year. I had a brilliant day, which was enjoyed by all my owners. To have a 1,2,3 is brilliant but to do it three minutes from home in front of lots of my nearest and dearest makes it all the more special. I can’t wait to do it all again next year.”

Andy and Kathryn would like to thank all the many supporters, helpers and sponsors who gave up their time to make this event so very special.