Eventing teams from Namibia and South Africa will be vying for honours in the annual Africa Shield Competition at Otjiwarongo this coming weekend.
Going for gold in the three phases of what is often referred to as the most taxing of the Olympic disciplines– dressage, cross-country and show jumping – the following horse and rider combinations will be pitted against each other:
The Namibian A equestrian federation team consists of:
Zoe Schmidt / Klein Hamakari’s Sternchen; Mira Meyer / Frischgewaagd Gallito, Helge von Ditfurth / Claratal Venezia and Alyssa Hopking / Callaho Condetto.
The Namef B team:
Jana Redler / Davetsaub Arivi; Maja Höver / Legacy Legato; Louis Kotze / Sandy Lane Hermes, and Sylvia Kleyenstüber / Altidore Z.
The Chef d’Equipe for both teams is Jakes van der Merwe.
The eventing South Africa team:
Kelly Paton, Madison Lanzoni, Petru van Eeden, James Pitts. The Chef d’Equipe is Linda Squair.
The South African riders will be competing on loan horses provided by local athletes and studs.
The Africa Shield ridden over heights of between 0.85 to 0.95m was introduced over a decade ago to give eventers across the region an opportunity to compete against each other and prepare themselves for the more taxing one star competitions and the FEI Eventing World Challenge.
Apart from the team event, the show, which is run under the auspices of the Namibian Equestrian Federation, also offers individual riders to compete over the same track prepared by the Reitgemeinschaft Otjiwarongo (RGO) at their premises just outside the town.
