Kate Anderson becomes the 2020 Stepping Stones 138cm Champion
Tuesday 04 August 2020
10 year-old Kate Anderson from Stillington, Stockton-on-Tees showed talent and maturity beyond her years this evening when she claimed the Stepping Stones 138cm title at the NAF Five Star British Showjumping Championships.
Riding Coolconan Thunder (Firefly at home), a 13 year-old 138cm gelding, she put in a very stylish and fast jump-off clear to claim the lead ahead of the other six riders that had come forward to the second round. As the only rider to break the 30 second barrier it was Kate’s time that the rest all needed to chase and the closest to her was Lily Watchman, also aged 10, from Darlington with her 14 year-old bay mare Buttons Two who finished in 2nd place with a time of 30.21 seconds whilst Ruby Birchenough and Glenwood Stud Dark Emerald finished 3rd.
Talking about her win and how she approached the jump off Kate said “I was the fourth rider in the jump off but had time to watch one go before me. My coach had said that if I get in the jump off I should make the turns but also to keep hold of him and that’s what I did. I made some turns that were tighter than I had planned and I was so happy when he made them so I just kept going forward”. And about her win she added “I was walking him off and didn’t watch the others after me go so I didn’t know I had won it until the commentators announced it. I was so surprised and so happy”.
Kate’s mother Julie said of her daughters achievement “Kate’s quite tall for her age so we stepped her up onto 138cm ponies when we got Firefly just before the sport went into lockdown in March. Coming here today is one of the first shows we’ve come to since the easing out of lockdown so we are just over the moon”.
The NAF Five Star British Showjumping Championships run between 3 – 11 August at Bolesworth and further information on the show can and full results can be found by visiting https://bit.ly/3fqDsmX
