Great deal of excitement

There was a flurry of excitement as Twin Palms Riding Centre prepared for their Christmas Kids Gymkhana, an annual event which culminated in a visit from Santa, who arrived, not with reindeer, in this case (they are currently resting for their very own annual event), but with ponies.

Once the riders arrived, they were allocated teams with leaders. Team One ‘Santas Elves’ was led by Luna with MissPrint. The elves were Julia riding Aramis, Luna’s sister Anae with ToyBoy and Elena astride Lime.

Team Two ‘Rocking Reindeers’ had Eleanor with Jasper leading the clan. Helping her to lock horns with the competition were Wei Ling on Ruby, pawing and ready to go was Laurence with Dollar and Nicola riding Candy completed the line-up.

Team Three ‘Christmas Puddings’ consisted of Margot riding Eid, Jasmine with Jazzi, Paula on India and Andrew riding Pearl.

In the first race, the first rider had to take the X’mas decoration out of the basket, ride to the end, put the decoration into the X’mas tree box and race back home, with the next team member ready to go, decoration in hand. The team with the most decorations in the box emerged winners.

Next was the bauble and spoon race, with riders racing to the end of the arena and back again carefully balancing the bauble on the spoon. If you think that’s simple, have a rethink, because there were X’mas tree barrels to be manoeuvred around in all events.

This race was swiftly followed by the decoration dump – this time teams had to get eight decorations into the box in the fastest time.

Of course, in all cases, if you dropped your decoration you had to get off your pony and pick it up and ride fast. The penultimate event was the walk, trot, canter race. In this, teams had to negotiate the barrels not once but twice, walk up, then trot back home; the next leg riders could choose trot or canter back to the top, but then had to walk back home. Any break of stride meant a penalty circle!

Last, but not least, was the Super Santa sack race. By now all the teams had done brilliantly and were neck and neck in the ratings. With judges at the ready to ensure fair play, the final race ended up in a dead heat … making everyone a winner.

As the ponies were taken back to their stalls and given treats, the paddock was transformed to play musical barrels.

It was just at the end when bells were heard ... ho ho ho, it was Santa. Luckily, he was made of sturdy stuff as a hoard of excited children charged up to see just what he had in his magic sack.

After gifts were given away, some very happy children went off for some Christmas fodder. A great day enjoyed by all the riders and ponies.

The gymkhana brought to a close Twin Palms Riding Centre’s events for 2011. However, they will be back in full swing in 2012.