From August 8 to 10, the De Eschruiters driving club from Wierden held a combined driving competition. Lynley Benneker participated in this combined driving competition with the pony Stapleford Joint Venture and Marcel Meiberg as groom. She was one of 17 participating combinations in the L pony class.
On Friday, August 8, Lynley started the competition with the dressage test. The dressage test went well and was awarded an average score of 53.11 penalty points by the two judges, putting her in third place in the rankings. A great result.
Lynley then had to ride the cones test. Although the course was quite heavy, she managed to limit the time penalty to 2.49 penalty points. With three balls knocked down, the total came to 11.49 penalty points and the 13th place in the cones classification. This dropped the combination to 9th place in the interim classification.
The marathon took place on Saturday, August 9. It promised to be a hot day, with temperatures possibly exceeding 30 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, Lynley had to start early in the morning. The The A route of the marathon was completed within the set time limits and therefore did not result in any penalty points. Unfortunately, a course fault was made in obstacle 3 of the B course, resulting in 20 penalty points and putting a high ranking out of reach. Due to the already high temperature, the B course was quite a challenge for the only 5-year-old Joint Venture. Nevertheless, he showed a clear improvement compared to his previous two marathons and arrived at the finish line in good condition.
With a total of 158.10 penalty points, a 12th place finish in the final standings and one winning point were ultimately achieved. A not unsatisfactory result for this still relatively inexperienced combination.