For the first time ever Barbados has representatives in all three equestrian disciplines at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.
Veteran Roberta Foster, and her equine partner Chichic, representing in the dressage discipline, have qualified for this year’s Games to be held in Colombia this summer.
The Barbados Equestrian Association (BEA) holds high hopes for Foster and Chichic, as they have well surpassed qualifying scores in both the Intermediate 1 and Prix St George tests set by the Federal Equestrian International (FEI) body.
Alexa Rodriguez and partner Consil, better known as Tony Pony, will take part in show jumping. The pair qualified in Wellington, United States, in 2017 and look forwardto the experience of their first timeat CAC Games.
The third discipline is the three-day eventing sport of which Laura Smith, Monique Archer and 17-year-old Zoe Archer have made this year’s cut, after successfully meeting the FEI International qualifying requirements to compete at the Games.
These three women travelled the globe in search of the right horses to participate internationally. Monique and daughter Zoe, who found Camross Diamond and Millridge Z II, hit the jackpot with these two eventing horses. Smith, however, opted for a smaller version in Little Vegas to match her small stature.
Meanwhile, Di Clarke, chairperson for BEA show jumping, organised a FEI Level One judges’ course recently. FEI Level One judge Alison Cox sat in for a refresher, while Nikki O’Neal and Shakira Emtage-Cave worked through a tough week of sessions with 14 other foreign national judges at the Butterfly Hotel in Maxwell, Christ Church, and Big “C” Stables, Frere Pilgrim.
The 16 attendees from England, Canada, Jamaica, Bermuda, Cuba, Cayman Islands and Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago all passed the three section exam, and were praised by FEI course directors and tutors Pablo Mayorga of Argentina and Karoly Fugli of Hungary, along with Dave Farmer of the Barbados Olympic Association for a successful week. (RA)
