Club history written by Kathy Humphrey in June 2016.

Toowoomba and District Showjumping Club has been in a force in equestrian sport for over 29 years. We have twice won Equestrian Australia Club of the Year for the whole of Australia.We have been based at the Toowoomba Showgrounds since 1987.During the late 1980's, a time when the club was showjumping only, and run by the Dobsons and the Overtons. David Dobson was the regular instructor, and monthly meetings were held. Sometimes other instructors, often Guy Creighton were used. Barry Mottram was the treasurer, and meetings were held in his house on the edge of town.Approximately 18 years ago, during the reign of a committee which included David Overton, Shirley Gott, Averil Hawthorne, Derik & Rita Dobson and Bill Doherty. Shirley Gott was very keen on building a cross country course. She managed to get Harry LeBerz from Brisbane to come and design it. The club conducted some major fund raising, and the late Harry LeBerz built the embryo cross country course - none of which survives in the original form, although it involved the sunken road and the stairs.Fence builder Graham Eastwell did the building, under Shirleys direction, however overseeing the course building was soon taken over by David Overton. David organised a brochure of the jumps we wanted, and gained funding from various organisations around Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. Without David Overton's hard work it could have been a financial disaster! Sponsors paid about $2000 to sponsor a jump.Averil Hawthorne was organising events around mid 1990's or so for a few years . In the 1980's and 1990's the club was famous for its Showjumping competitions, as part of the Alan Bond series.In the late 1990’s Sue Gunn helped redesign the Sunken road and put the cross country course through the flood gate, and showed us how to run an event properly, and how to prepare the course.About 5 or 6 years ago, our club employed Wayne Copping from South Australia, who designed the Adelaide 3 Day event course, Lakes and Craters, and recently the SEA Games in Thailand. At the time, Wayne built around the top of the showgrounds, but since then the showground has become so built up, that we had to move some jumps, including the Jondaryan jump, which used to be on the lawn area east of the caretaker's house. He designed The Bank, Mushrooms, and The Jetty. These were built with fund raising from film nights, catering for a night function for our ODE’s, schools with Stuart Tinney and Heath Ryan, and a grant from the Casino fund.Unfortunately, wooden cross country jumps need constant care, and so, in September 2016, we obtained the services of Craig Gordon who has built at Adelaide 4 Star, Rolex Kentucky, and Badminton 4 Star, Wagga Wagga, Werribee 3DE. He built with the able help of Anthony Freeman – hence Anthony’s Angles!!The club “house” was a caravan from 1987 until approx. 2006 ( Averil can confirm)The old arena was a chain fence to keep sheep in with no wooden sides—they were built on the northern side when we upgraded to the arena we now have, to be used for a xc jump—didn’t eventuate. We got rid of caravan when Toowoomba PC was annulled and went from Middle Ridge to the showground and our club and PC put in money, with a Council grant, to build the present club house and PC shed.Our club promotes Showjumping and Eventing on the Darling Downs.The formula for our continuing success lies in our commitment to our membership.We aim to provide our members with a stable and committed framework within which they can rely on our club to facilitate leadership in organising competitions and coaching.Our club was the first in Queensland to run a Young Event Horse competition.It was in 1997 and Stuart Tinney was the judge.We run at least 8 unofficial Showjumping height class days a year and a large official 2 day Showjumping championship in January every year.We also run 2 official and 2 unofficial eventing competitions every year. We have run both State Showjumping and Eventing championships on at least 3 occasions.We also try to provide our members with good coaching opportunities so that as riders they can progress to their desired levels. Each year we organise at least 6 coaching clinics for eventing and showjumpingWe pride ourselves on the fact that our club caters to riders of all ages and capabilities and our coaching clinics and competitions reflect this.We foster the development of junior members and have awards for the most improved Junior showjumper and eventer.Our club is committed to our future on the Downs and to this end has invested $28,000 in building a new showjump storage shed and new set of competition showjumping equipment. We have also invested $20,000 in the last year on improvements and new jumps for our cross country course.I collaboration with the Toowoomba Dressage club ,West Toowoomba Pony Club and the showground we obtained a grant and have built a large sand/woodchip arena suitable for 3 dressage arenas or a world Cup Showjumping course.It wishes to facilitate cooperation between its membership and external organisations and state bodies . It wishes to encourage community health, welfare, physical education, participation and research through horse sports. It encourages joint activities with local pony club groups to encourage eventing and showjumping in Pony Club. It aims to run, coordinate and promote Horse Trials and Show jumping activities, competitions,clinics and events. Our club wants to continue improving the broad range of services and benefits available to its membership. The major focus is on servicing its members, to ensure they have the best opportunity to receive excellent instruction and the best competition experience we can offer.