Family fun at the Nissan Easter festival

Where else would you find showjumping and dressage, an Easter egg hunt, a dog agility show, a fancy dress competition, a horse carriage race and a Lipizzaner show? Not to mention Nissan's impressive vehicles on display to delight the dads. Delicious food markets were available with various treats and a kids’ zone filled with mechanical rides, jumping castles and craft activities.

Winner Nicola Sime Riley

Being an avid equestrian enthusiast, I attended the main class on Monday. This was the culmination of a week's worth of dressage and showjumping with riders accumulating points to fight for their place on the podium. The class started off with a tearful goodbye lap from Nissan Nabab as Lorette Knowles Taylor puts him into retirement. They broke the six-bar record in 2015 at 2.05m, which was closely contested but unbeaten this year by Grant Langley and Berlioz De Hauts Droits at a monstrous 2.02m.

It was a tough course designed by Kate Launder this year. There were a few thrills and spills with a particularly creative dismount by Graham Winn.

Image sourced from Tamara and Blake Images

Time revealed the titans who fought it out to the finish. The final results were:

• First place: Nicola Sime Riley
  
• Second place: Shannon Smith
  
• Third place: Lauren Smorenburg
  
• Fourth place: Lorette Knowles-Taylor
  
• Fifth place: Chris van der Merwe

Image sourced from Tamara and Blake Images

Well done and fantastic riding to the winners. All the hard work paid off! Make sure you don't miss out on next year's big event. Bring the family and make a day (or two) of it.