Enterprising Equine Students Success

14th March 2014

HND Equine Students from The North Highland College UHI hosted the first ever indoor Puissance in Caithness last weekend. The ‘Jumping Extravaganza’ consisted of a Jumping Derby in the morning with a mixture of 10 showjumps and working hunter jumps. The afternoon saw riders of all levels compete - jumping over the puissance wall at the colleges newly built Land-based Centre of Excellence at Dale Farm, Halkirk.

The student group organised the event as part of their Managing and Event class and had to use their entrepreneurial skills to raise a large sum of money in order for the event to run.

Back in November, the students used their business know-how, gained from the course to compete in a local Dragon’s Den style competition run by The North Highland Regeneration Fund for young entrepreneurs. ‘Team Dale’ pitched the idea of the event to local “dragons” at the Pentland Hotel, Thurso and was awarded £150 towards the project. The students also used their own initiative to approach the Dounreay Community Fund who gave them a generous sum of money, with the rest of the funds being contributed from the college.

The HND’s raised money from the competition entry fees as well as a raffle on the day. Although the money is still coming in and the total has not been finalised, they hope to have raised in excess of £600 to be donated to their chosen charities - World Horse Welfare and the SSPCA.  Puissance winners on the day were: Steph Cowe, Ellie Harrold and Emma Taylor. The students would like to thank all the competitors, sponsors, spectators, judges and photographer, and all those who gave up their time to help on the day.  Without them the day would not have been a success.