06/06/2025
Coona 2025 had so much to be thankful for. Dry sunny weather, a fabulous team of talented, united and enthusiastic girls with families willing to jump in and help out anytime, and a team of coaches willing to give their all for both NEGS students and riders from all schools who needed a helping hand over the week.
No less than 38 students proudly wore ‘NEGS on top’, each one demonstrating NEGS values being excellence, integrity, responsibility and teamwork.
We thank everyone who has been a part of our journey, from the farriers who manage our horse's soundness, to Callum and his team from Thunderbolts Equine and Randlab for helping to keep our horses happy and healthy.
Thank you to the NEGS staff, supporting teachers, admin and stable staff who help our young girls manage their horses throughout the term when parents aren't readily available. These girls have to feed, rug, organise vets and farriers and manage the health and well-being of their horses on their own while juggling academics and other sports. Thank you to the families in the Armidale community helping beyond their daughters, and to the families from further away who (too) play invaluable roles during such an event as the Horse Expo. Without you, no one eats.
This year through dedication and hard work we were able to win the Poole Family Perpetual Shield for the highest scoring four riders from one school. This was such an exciting trophy to win as it requires four riders to be successful in a range of events over the week. NEGS is known for having a large base of riders who are successful in their chosen areas so to have four riders who could "do it all" this year was super exciting.
It has been 11 years since we have taken out his trophy, so everyone at NEGS is incredibly proud to have been a part of it.
Those riders in the winning team were:
Robin Henry
Taylor Chick
Beatrix Morton
Abbie Kelly
To make their celebrations all the more exciting the same four riders rode together in the team of four show riding event, winning the Gower Family Perpetual Trophy.
To top off what has been an exceptional Coona for NEGS we were also able to bring home:
The Salmandae Team Eventing Trophy won by:
Robin Henry
Jasmine Fleming
Annabelle Dunlop
The Team Dressage Trophy won by:
Sarah Barclay
Abbie Kelly
Taylor Chick
The Godolphin Team Six Bar Shield won by:
Ruby Holgate
Robin Henry
Jessica Emmery
Annabelle Dunlop
NEGS always loves competing at Coona as we bring a huge team of girls who just thrive on the camaraderie and team spirit, but nothing is ever guaranteed due to numbers. Any ribbons at Coona are hard to earn, as there are so many quality riders from all schools.
The scores were close.
Both the eventing trophy and the Poole family shield had only a few points in it, requiring a recount of the Poole Family Shield after it was awarded to Calrossy on the day. We congratulate Calrossy’s consistent success over the previous years, as ‘Without a worthy opponent, a group cannot grow stronger’, and we are humbled and proud to take the Poole Family Shield home in 2025.
The quality of horses and riders at Coona is high, which is a testament to the efforts of the Coona committee, who work tirelessly from one year to the next to run such a massive event. A huge thank you needs to go to all of the discipline convenors as well as the scorers, as it is almost incomprehensible the sheer amount of results and data that needs to be collated. Thank you so much for the many hours you all put into making Coona one of the greatest events there is for riders in NSW and especially the north west.
A big Thank you to Ozshots for the photos and getting them edited and to us so quickly after the event.
We will do a full run down of the week at Coona celebrating the girls individual success’s in the next newsletter
A Beautiful Chapter in The Chronicles of NEGS. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily.
