Crowds descended upon the Horse & Wine Festival presented by Land Rover Durban last Saturday at the Shongweni Club where top quality equestrian displays, dog agility shows as well as fabulous food and wine all made for a great day out.

“It was a really fabulous event with everybody saying they had a thoroughly great time,” said Shelly Moore of the Shongweni Club. “Despite the weather being a bit nippy, people really enjoyed being outdoors, visiting the quality stalls and watching the thrilling arena displays. Children were also kept entertained all day in the kitted out Kids Zone.”

The venue saw close to two thousand visitors coming through the gates on the day where they were treated to a range of equestrian activities performed by Shongweni’s top riders, the K9 Police Dog Unit display as well as a number of fun competitions, enjoyed by both competitors and spectators.

The Children and Pony Fancy Dress Competition was won by Tiffany-Jane Wait and her daughter, Bella with their ‘clothes’ horse. Entrants were judged by a panel looking at originality, effort, creativity, crowd support and overall appeal. The winning team ticked all the boxes with Bella’s pony cleverly dressed as a washing line while Bella adorned in an OMO washing packet. The family was thrilled to win a weekend getaway to Rockwood Lodges as well as the use of a Land Rover Discovery 4.

The popular Barrel Racing competition, which is an equestrian discipline run by Western Mounted Games Association of SA and presented by the Turn and Burn Stud from the Midlands, saw competitors racing on horses around barrels at high speed, thrilling spectators. Candice Gillespie was the fastest rider, galloping away with the R2 500 prize.

The Speed and 4 Bar competition necessitated that horse and rider complete six jumps against the clock, as well clearing four jumps in a row from 1.10m to 1.40m. The event was won by Ryan Wallbridge on Forestye Bengston, who took the prize of R10 000.

The Ride and Drive contest saw showjumpers racing Land Rovers through an obstacle course and the R5 000 cash prize was taken by Erinn and Richard Dempsey. It was a particularly special win for Erinn as it was her beloved horse, Equal Image’s final competition before ending his successful career.

For the first time, in conjunction with the Horse & Wine Festival presented by Land Rover Durban, the South African Lipizzaners put on a show the evening before the festival. Moore said the Lipizzaner performance - which is the only Lipizzaner show outside Vienna, that is affiliated to the Spanish Riding School â€" was well attended.

“This is the second time we have been fortunate enough to host the historic South African Lipizzaners at Shongweni and it was just another spectacular performance,” she said. “We had more than 1 000 people coming out to see the show.”

This year saw Land Rover Durban come on as title sponsors and, following the event’s massive success, they have committed to making this an annual festival going forwards.

“This was a really great event with something for everyone,” said Andre Schrenk, dealer principal for Land Rover Durban. “There were great arena events with worthy prizewinners and fantastic support from all the vendors and public. The Horse & Wine Festival presented by Land Rover Durban is the highlight on Shongweni Club’s annual calendar and we are looking forward to it being even bigger and better next year.”