A new Scottish cross-country fence has been created to honour Hannah Francis and Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony charity.
Lindores Equestrian, Fife, ran a competition to design a new fence, which was won by Dorothy Drury.
The fence, created by British Eventing course-builder David Wilson, took five days to carve. Willberry Wonder Pony stands at a huge six foot tall and weighs one tonne.
Lindores Equestrian manager Anna Black said: “The competition was open to all ages and artistic ability and entrants had to design a fence in 2D and 3D. It got a really good uptake and we received some fantastic entries. It was really tricky to decide the winner with some creativity in the entries but the Willberry Wonder Pony fence ticked a lot of boxes.
“We are open to all levels of riders so we didn’t want it to be too tricky. It has two jumping options, at 70cm and 90cm, so people training for the Wobbleberries Challenge will be able to use it. It’s a good training jump and is on flat ground.
“It opened on last Saturday and is riding very well.”
The Wobbleberries Challenge for Hannah’s Willberry Wonder Pony Charity is a challenge for “middle-aged wimpy riders” inspired by teenager Hannah Francis, who died in 2016, just over a year after she was diagnosed with bone cancer.
One of the founders of the Wobbleberries Challenge, Sally Bar, said: “It’s fantastic to see this clever design brought to life. We are looking forward to seeing photos of this fence being jumped, and helping remind people of the excellent work Hannah’s Willberry Wondery Pony Charity is doing – and we hope it inspires more Wobbleberries to sign up, and raise money in the fight to #kickingcancersbutt. We are very grateful to Lindores Equestrian for making this happen.”
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Ms Black added: “We would very much like people to come and experience the jump, take photographs and share the hashtag and keep raising awareness for the charity.”
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In this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, out on 28 June, is a full report from the Hickstead Derby meeting, a six-page report from Royal Ascot, a feature on the much-discussed whip rules and, in this week’s ‘vet clinic’, find out how to spot the signs of sand colic.
