Cayman Islands' Equestrians Meet the International Challenge

By Eve van den Bol From CEF

This
past weekend, the Cayman leg of the annual international equestrian
competition among the Caribbean Islands of Antigua, Bermuda,
Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and the Cayman Islands took place at The
Equestrian Center located on the Linford Pierson Highway.

The
Caribbean Dressage Challenge, an event organized by the Caribbean
Equestrian Association (CEA) and run locally by the Cayman Islands
Equestrian Federation (CIEF), enables riders from CEA member
countries to compete against each other without having to travel with
their horse. Instead, the judge travels from island to island,
scoring each competitor’s ride at an officially organized horse
show in each country.

Ms.
Brenda Minor, a Canadian FEI 4* judge, returned to score the event
for the second year in a row. With the FEI 4* designation, Ms. Minor
is qualified to judge all international competitions other than the
Olympics and world championships, and as such, is one of the highest
level of judges in all of North America. “Part of our sport
development efforts include bringing in internationally recognized
judges to the Cayman Islands for our shows, especially as we are
preparing our elite athletes to compete at the Adequan Global
Dressage Festival in Wellington, FL in 2020 and 2021 and the CAC
Games in 2022,” explained Tanya Ziemniak, Chairperson of the CIEFs
Horse Show Committee.

Riders
competing in the CEA Dressage Challenge are ranked both individually
and by country team. The country team consists of the top three
adult and top three child riders based upon the difficulty of the
test they ride and the scores they receive. Barbados and the Cayman
Islands are the first of the six islands in the CEA to hold their
2019 Dressage Challenge. Once all of the countries in the CEA have
completed their competitions, the final standing for Cayman’s
riders individually and for the Cayman national team will be known.
Last year, the Cayman Children’s Team placed 3rd
overall in the Caribbean, while the Cayman Adult Team placed fourth.

Based
upon this weekend’s results, the CIEF has determined the Cayman
Team for this year’s Challenge. Representing the Adult team are
Jessica McTaggart, Gina Lomas and Cathy Osborne. Kayla Mannisto,
Abbey Swartz, and Leah Alberga round out the Children’s team.

For
the second year in a row, Kayla Mannisto, riding Pony Up and Jessica
McTaggart riding Jolly Rancher were named Children’s and Adult High
Point Champions, respectively, of the CEA Dressage Challenge. Kayla
and Pony Up were also named Children’s High Point Champion at the
CIEF’s last dressage show in February. In addition to holding the
CEA Dressage Challenge, the CIEF held other dressage classes for
interested riders.

Winners of each of the classes held this past weekend are listed below in order of most difficult to least difficult test ridden. Dressage Challenge classes are noted with the words CEA.

Images credit - Joanna Humphries