Photography by West End Photography
Lead Photograph: ELLA POMROY & REDWINDS MILKYWAY
At the recent Endurance GB Kings Forest ride that took place near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, three generations of the same family took part either on horseback or on the ground. Madison Pomroy rode 80km on Zaferan (Wrzos x Cephei); her cousin Keighley Pomroy rode 40km on her novice horse, Hathek (Simeon Sadir x Lady Ace); their grandmother Jane Girling and sister Ella Pomroy rode the 32km class; and Keighley’s mother, Janine, and grandfather crewed everyone.
So how did this family adventure start? Fifteen-year-old Keighley explains: “My name is Keighley Pomroy and I live in Ipswich with my mum and dad and my sister Ella. I started doing endurance in 2013 with Redwings Milkyway, or ‘Lumpy’ as he’s known at home; a 13hh pony we rescued from Wales. I started out doing pleasure rides and then some graded affiliated rides, accompanied by my Grandma, Jane, who has been doing endurance for a long time.
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| KEIGHLEY POMROY & HATHEK |
“In 2014, Lumpy upgraded to Open and we won the EGB National Junior Championships. In 2015 we upgraded to Advanced and were runners-up in the Junior Championships, behind my cousin Maddie riding Grandma’s home-bred Arabian, Zaferan.”
With both Maddie and Keighley now upgraded to Young Riders level, Milkyway was looking forward to retirement, and Jane takes up the story: “As the girls had grown out of Milkyway we wondered what to do with him. But Keighley’s 10-year-old sister Ella decided she wanted to give endurance a try and has completed four rides so far. It is quite a challenge for me to juggle everything as I have to escort Ella, as she’s a junior rider, but the girls all enjoy it so it’s worth it!”
Keighley is now competing in Novice with her Arabian Hathek, and Maddie is continuing her endurance career with Zaferan, but with both of them preparing for GSCE examinations in 2017, competing in endurance isn’t an easy task. Of course, Grandma is on hand to help them out. Jane continues, “Both girls work very hard to keep their horses fit and as well as endurance they dance, swim, walk the dogs, and are generally very active.”
So what do the girls think about endurance? Keighley says what she most enjoys about endurance is being out competing, meeting new people, but also being able to do the sport together with her family. Ella says the best bit is her brilliant pony because he knows exactly what he’s doing and always gets her Grade 1s! And Maddie just loves being out with the horse and making new friends. Endurance really is accessible to all ages and degrees of ambition. Hopefully all of these riders will be just as successful in the final part of the season.
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| MADISON POMROY & ZAFERAN |
