Carne’s Ann Lambert claimed third place in the Senior Open Championship at the British Riding Clubs National Championships in Lincolnshire last Saturday.

Piloting Killinick Bouncer, the Wexford-based rider was one of ten through to the jump-off out of 48 starters from across the United Kingdom.

Seven progressed to the jump-off after one of the riders withdrew and Lambert was among the five riders who left all of the fences intact in rather poor conditions.

Lamberts time of 33.46, however, fell just short of the target set by Ashley Daniels (Abba) from East Cheshire Combined Training who crossed the beam in 30.74 seconds, to leave Lambert in third place overall.

Lambert said after her performance,

It was a great thrill to ride such a technical and colourful course of jumps. The atmosphere was lovely, laid back and relaxed and we met such lovely people during our visit, and there was some healthy banter too.

Meanwhile, twelve teams contested the Superflex senior open team championship where after the opening round, Carne Riding Club was among the leading pack of four teams on a clean sheet.

Aisling Quinn (Try Time Diva), Ann Lambert (Killinick Bouncer) and Christina Kavanagh (Russelstown Bay Princess) all returned with clear rounds while Michael Butler provided the discard on Thaddius Brown.

Conditions deteriorated in the second round with just Lambert providing a clear round for the team.

Quinn returned with a pole on the floor while Kavanagh racked up 16 penalties on the score board. Butler, who was last to jump for the team, returned with three poles on the ground to give the team a total of 16 penalties.

This left the Wexford quartet level with Cropthorne and Evesham Vale Riding Club but when time was taken into consideration, Carne dropped down to fifth place.

The East Cheshire Combined Training club, won the contest after a two-way jump-off with Darlington & District Riding Club who were both tied on 4 penalties after the second round.

Team chef d’Equipe Lee-Anne O’Keeffe was happy with the team’s performance as she said, ““this was a fantastic opportunity given to the club by the Association and we were very proud to represent our Association at the British Riding Clubs Championships. It was definitely an unexpected bonus to bring some rosettes.”

“The course was very technical and the conditions became more difficult as the competition developed. The standard of horses and riders were very high. There were 15 jumping obstacles in each round.”