Kenya will be sending a team to the schools championships at Hickstead this summer for the first time (6 August). The competition, founded in 1964 by Canon Peter Booth, gives school children the chance to jump in the main arena at Hickstead. Teams from Kuwait and South Africa have jumped in the class before, but this year, for the first time, British competitors will be joined by four girls from Hillcrest International School in Nairobi.
The riders — Emma Carter, 15; Coral Hays (pictured), 15; Ornella Hutchison, 14 and Kate Smit, 17 — are travelling to the UK a week before the competition on 6 August to train on borrowed horses with coach John Thelwell in Leicestershire. The project has been organised by Hillcrest’s English teacher, Georgie Wheeler, who also runs the school’s expanding equestrian teaching and training activities.