Malton riding club are on flying form at the moment, having just returned from the area 4 riding clubs summer show qualifiers held at Epworth near Doncaster at the weekend.

There was a last minute change of venue from Richmond equestrian centre, where there has once again been an outbreak of strangles in the local vicinity. The manager of Richmond took advice from the animal health trust to shut down the centre rather than risk the virus spreading onto their venue.

The area 4 committee had a massive job on their hands to try and re locate to a venue which could accommodate nearly six hundred competitors over the weekend for dressage and show jumping competitions, with less than forty eight hours before kick off.

Malton riding club sent fourteen teams plus individuals over the two days of competition, with all fourteen teams coming back home with a place in the top six on the leader board. Chloe Fairley from Westow near Malton, kicked off the start of the rosettes for Malton where she finished a very close second in the intermediate show jumping on The Happy Prince, who has just returned to work following a rest.

The senior style jumping team consisting of Chloe Fairley, Alicia Farey, Lynda Fairclough and Nicky Lyons had quite a surprise on hearing that they had won the class out of twelve teams where Lynda and Chloe both finish in fifth place individually with other team member Nicky Lyons, taking second place individually overall, giving the team their qualifying place for the championships at Lincoln in September.

Malton riding club chair person and local instructor had a nice surprise when hearing from another competitor that she had scored a whopping eighty five percent in the senior riding test which maybe compensated for just having been pipped to the post in the elementary section by less than less percent.

Amy Small from York had a busy two days competing on four different horses, travelled home with a smile on her face after winning several classes in teams and individually. Having brought her grey mare, Polar Park back into work recently, the pair managed to ride three rounds of show jumping without knocking a single fence to win the novice show jumping in the fastest time.

Erin Chan was another junior member who only a couple of weeks ago was wondering if she was even going to compete at the areas when her pony injured itself, leaving Erin with nothing to ride. Erin was then offered the loan of Iceford Toffee from Katherine Holmes. The pair only had two weeks to get to know each other before the competition, where the pair won individually and as a team. Erin also rode in the dressage, Gorbally Boy owned by another member, Alicia Farey, to help keep three full teams, having only sat on him twice in the week prior to the qualifiers the pair managed to finish in the top six.