Equestrian Expo in Coonabarabran
recently. ▪ Photo: Oz Shotz Photography
Lila Armstrong represented Cobar High School (CHS) at the North West Equestrian Expo in Coonabarabran from May 29 to June 2.
The expo is Australia’s largest high school interschool equestrian event and includes One day Eventing, Dressage, Sporting, Showjumping, Ring Events and Cross Country disciplines along with Polocrosse, a Team Barrel Race, a Working Horse Challenge, Pentathlon, Six Bar, Hunt, Penning and Gymkhana events.
First up, Lila and Lofty, her dressage horse, rode in the Combined Training 80cm event which consisted of a dressage test followed by a show jumping round.
Lila placed first in dressage with 70.33 per cent and, despite hitting a rail in the show jumping section, her dressage score was enough to keep her in first place and see her through to finishing as the overall champion for her division.
The pair show jumped on Monday placing second in their AM7 class after going double clear in two rounds before moving into the “Super Phase” format where they had one rail down.
That put them in 10th place and saw them finish in 4th place overall.
The next day they competed in Hacking where they placed third in their height class.
As Lofty is a dressage horse (and show jumping was a bit of a stretch for him), Lila didn’t compete in her other usual disciplines of sporting, team penning and the stock horse classes.
The 34th staging of the North West Equestrian Expo was once again well attended with approximately 500 riders and up to 600 horses, representing over 100 schools.
The program caters for riders of all abilities and experience in most events with graded Eventing, Combined Training, Showjumping, Dressage and Polocrosse, enabling all riders to compete safely with others of a similar experience level.
The standard at the top level of all disciplines is extremely high with some riders going on to represent Australia in their chosen field after school.
The overall focus of the Expo has not changed much since the early years and competitors still display the same sportsmanship, horsemanship and passion for their mounts while representing their school that was the cornerstone of the philosophy of the founders of this iconic event 34 years ago.
