EQUESTRIAN Bahamas celebrated a successful 2016-17 season at Mariposa Stables and Riding Club on Saturday.

Equestrian athletes and coaches gathered with friends and family over the weekend to mark the accomplishments of the season during the fourth annual end-of-year awards ceremony.

Cathy Ramsingh-Pierre, president of the Equestrian federation, praised the athletes for a successful and ground-breaking competition year. “We started off in September with a bang, with riders competing in the Marshall and Sterling League Finals in Saugerties, New York, under coach Erika Adderley-Coello, and Ella Holowesko winning the M&S Children’s Medal,” she said. “We ended the season with our first-ever inter-school competition, which the riders found challenging and fun.”

Riders and horse owners proudly stepped up to receive the beautiful aqua, black and gold prize rosettes awarded to the highest-scoring riders and horses in each category of competition, calculated according to points earned over the six horse shows in the 2016-2017 season.

Spectacular floating trophies were given for special awards. Kokopelli’s Dance, of Camperdown Equestrian Centre, won the Dr Francis Adderley Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the horse or pony with the highest overall points accumulated in jumper divisions.

Siena Holowesko won the Lady Marie Dupuch Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Bahamas Junior Classic, and Carisa Brogdon received the D’Aguilar Equitation High Point Rider Trophy, awarded to the rider amassing the most points in a single equitation division.

The final award of the evening was the Equestrian Bahamas Junior Sportsmanship Award.

Eight riders, nominated by their peers and their coaches for demonstrating sportsmanship, were presented with certificates and Lilly Izmirlian was announced as the winner.

The ceremony marks the end of Equestrian Bahamas’ 2016-2017 show season. Competitions will resume in the fall.