11/06/2026
For those who have not seen this post via Dressage Canterbury here is the good news regarding Dressage at Rangiora Showgrounds. Karen and I will support this group as and when we can.
We had intended to launch our WRC Dressage at the AGM with members present. In the event our Canterbury Dressage friends were so excited about our series event they beat us to it and announced it yesterday. Andrea, in her role as chair of the new sub-committee, and I have prepared this announcement for you.
Breaking News
We are extremely excited to announce that WRC will be taking over the running of the North Canterbury Dressage days run at the Rangiora A&P grounds from August of this year.Our rationale for this decision is that with the growth of the club, we need to find a sustainable and solid fundraising arm to enable us to continue to subsidise rallies, training and other events for the benefit of our entire membership. Rather than having several single
events run at separate venues throughout the year which subsequently require a new budget, set up and planning for each venue, this event series enables us to run a number of events all at one venue following a tried and tested format.
A sub-committee of members has been formed to oversee these events and our aim is to widen the classes for broader participation and to make this a welcome pathway for those who might want to give dressage a go through additional ungraded and musical classes, including pairs to music, as well as continuing to offer Graded classes for those riders seeking to gain points towards National dressage series.
The adoption of this series is extremely important for a number of reasons. Not only is it a huge fundraising opportunity but it raises the standing of the club and its members. We will be supporting both our local A&P Association, our governing bodies of the sport ESNZ and DNZ as well as enabling regional competitive riders to have access to an important venue to accumulate graded points. It fosters enormous collaboration which is what WRC is
all about.
We plan to trial this for one season through to March 2027 to ensure it is a viable income stream so there is commitment for one year only at this stage with the option for a further two years.
We hope all our members will be as enthusiastic about this opportunity as we are on the committee and that we will have plenty of volunteers stepping forward to help with the series. Its success depends on your input and in turn the membership stands to benefit from a wider variety of subsidised activities throughout the year.
As always we welcome your thoughts and feedback. We had intended to wait until the AGM to unveil these plans but it seems that the enormous
enthusiasm for us taking over this series has meant that this is already being discussed in certain circles. Through our commitment to being open and transparent with our members, we felt it pertinent to make this announcement as soon as we had finalised the plans which
has only happened this week. As they say, all the best laid plans….
