South East Eventers League Ball
Had a fantastic night at the South East Eventers League Ball at the High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells. What a great way to finish the season and was lovely to meet up with lots of other competitors, particularly the team from the U18 Championships at Weston Park.
BRC Winter Dressage & Pony Club Open Dengie Dressage Qualifiers
The Area 10 BRC Dressage Qualifiers were held on at wet and windy weekend at Royal Leisure in the outdoor arenas! Pop was a good boy and came second in his arena and as the whole team performed well, we have qualified for the BRC National Winter Dressage Championships at Hartpury on 30th March 2014. I have also qualified for the Pony Club Dengie Open Dressage Area Final, but sadly the date of the Area Final clashes with the date of the BRC Championships, so I had to make a very hard decision to choose which one to do. As the BRC Championships is a team event, I decided I should choose that one, but am sad because I have been competing at the Dengie Area Dressage since 2009, and have qualified for the championships four times now, twice in Novice and twice in Open!
National BE100u18 Championships - Weston Park
We finally got rid of Pop's abscess after a couple of flare-ups and the work began to get him fit and ready in time for the BE100u18 Championships at Weston Park. He did a lovely dressage despite persistent rain to gain a great score of 27.5 which put us into 9th place in a 60 plus section. Then we jumped a clear round show jumping which would have meant a top 5 placing if we went clear in the cross country. Unfortunately the rain turned torrential just as we started the cross country and although he jumped superbly we were really unlucky and he slipped into one of the last jumps getting 20 penalties which sadly dropped us from fourth place to nowhere, so no fairy-tale ending this time. I must admit I was gutted, particularly as this
was his only XC stop this year, but given all the problems we were lucky to get there in the first place and was still a very pleasing performance for what was only his fifth BE event! (Video of this event in the Video Gallery, which I think gives an idea of the weather conditions!)
was his only XC stop this year, but given all the problems we were lucky to get there in the first place and was still a very pleasing performance for what was only his fifth BE event! (Video of this event in the Video Gallery, which I think gives an idea of the weather conditions!)
National Pony Club Open Dressage Championships
With Pop out of action, we faced a dilemma with the Pony Club Championships approaching. We only had a team of three, so if I pulled out the whole team couldn't compete. There was no way Alfie's dressage was good enough for him to take Pop's place, so in the end I decided to borrow my old pony, Lizzie, back and take her instead. Bless her, she has only done one Elementary level test in her life, and hasn't competed above Prelim level for the last couple of years, so had to have a quick crash course in simple changes and medium trot and canter! The journey up to Cheshire was horrendous as a petrol tanker had overturned on the M25, so it took us eleven and a half hours in total! Lizzie did a very sweet test, but a little rushed. However, as expected she was not individually placed as she is not established at this level.
National Pony Club Tetrathlon Championships
What a long way to go a Championships - all the way from Sussex to Bishop Burton near Hull! Thankfully the journey was pretty uneventful and we managed it in about six hours! I managed good, if not world-beating scores in the shoot and swim on the first day and then set off to walk the XC course for the following day. The course made good use of the undulating terrain and was to BE100 dimensions but with more technicality than you would expect in a normal BE100, as the idea is to test the rider as much as the horse. The first four fences were straightforward, then fence 5 was two angled skinny brushes up a hill, 7 was a corner, 8 was a step up to skinny arrowhead, 10 the sliprail and then 11 was the water complex
consisting of a large log straight into the water with a skinny brush actually in the water. 12 was the gate and then 14 was the next test and the one that concerned me most, as it was a big log, one stride, then down a big drop and then over another big downhill log. Given that Alfie is not renowned for his prowess down steps or downhill it did give me a few worries! 16 was a coffin in the woods with a skinny brush as the third element, and 19 was a combination of angled skinny brushes downhill! So XC day dawned and we watch some of the boys go first and saw that clears were not freely forthcoming and that faults were spread out throughout the course. Alfie took a little while to warm up and start jumping well, but then got into cross country mode! Finally he was off and was jumping confidently from the start. Thankfully I managed to climb back on board 17.1hh Alfie after the slip rail and then he flew through the water without a hesitation. The gate kept catching in the wind, but thankfully I got it secured within the time. Then off towards the dreaded drop combination, but thankfully negotiated it safely. After that the remaining fences were plain sailing and we galloped through the finish clear within the time! (Only 44 clears out of about 100 girls). That night was the traditional tet champs party resulting in me getting to bed at 1am, and then had to be up in time for the cross country run in the morning. Again the course made good use of the hilly terrain, I recorded a good time, but not my best, so out of a class of about 100 UK girls I finished 28th, which was pretty satisfactory. All in all a good weekend and thankfully the journey home was straightforward with no delays.
consisting of a large log straight into the water with a skinny brush actually in the water. 12 was the gate and then 14 was the next test and the one that concerned me most, as it was a big log, one stride, then down a big drop and then over another big downhill log. Given that Alfie is not renowned for his prowess down steps or downhill it did give me a few worries! 16 was a coffin in the woods with a skinny brush as the third element, and 19 was a combination of angled skinny brushes downhill! So XC day dawned and we watch some of the boys go first and saw that clears were not freely forthcoming and that faults were spread out throughout the course. Alfie took a little while to warm up and start jumping well, but then got into cross country mode! Finally he was off and was jumping confidently from the start. Thankfully I managed to climb back on board 17.1hh Alfie after the slip rail and then he flew through the water without a hesitation. The gate kept catching in the wind, but thankfully I got it secured within the time. Then off towards the dreaded drop combination, but thankfully negotiated it safely. After that the remaining fences were plain sailing and we galloped through the finish clear within the time! (Only 44 clears out of about 100 girls). That night was the traditional tet champs party resulting in me getting to bed at 1am, and then had to be up in time for the cross country run in the morning. Again the course made good use of the hilly terrain, I recorded a good time, but not my best, so out of a class of about 100 UK girls I finished 28th, which was pretty satisfactory. All in all a good weekend and thankfully the journey home was straightforward with no delays.
British Riding Clubs National Horse Trials Championship - Junior 100
We were due to leave on Friday afternoon to travel up to Oxfordshire, but then disaster struck when Pop came in from the field lame (later discovered to be an abscess). Not wanting to let the team down we made the last minute decision to take Alfie to ensure the club could still field a full team. Had not even had the chance to practise the test on him beforehand, which showed in the dressage phase when he scored 40.5! However, he coped well with the roads and track and steeplechase and flew round the cross country course clear despite some testing combinations. And then follow it up with a clear show jumping, gaining 10th place in his section and helping the team to third place overall! What a clever and genuine boy!
Area Tetrathlon Qualifier
Our branch was meant to be fielding a team of three in the Intermediate class, but at the last minute one member dropped out, which meant the pressure was on for me to qualify as an individual! The swim, shoot and run all went well, and thankfully Alfie jumped clear round the cross country course, gaining me fifth place and a qualification for the National Tetrathlon Championship at Bishop Burton!
RMPC Intermediate ODE at Brightling Park
With Pop working so hard I decided to use my father's horse Alfie for tetrathlon this year. I felt he needed more cross country experience before the Area Tetrathlon so decided to try some eventing with him and so entered for the Romney Marsh Pony Club One Day Event which is held over the Brightling BE course. Dressage is not Alfie's forte but he did a fairly obedient test, and then jumped clear round the show jumping and cross country to come third in his section and our team won!
Brightling BE100
Pop had a few days off before this event as he had been working so hard - with hindsight this was a mistake! Did a reasonable dressage test to gain 30.5 but then was too enthusiastic in the show jumping and knocked down a couple of poles, which was really unlike him. Then flew round the cross country course clear but found out we had gone too fast, which incurred 5 time penalties and knocked us right out of the placings!
Eridge BE100u18
I've had to restrict my eventing a bit in the last couple of months, due to taking my AS levels. So was really pleased to be out competing BE again at Eridge! The organisers had done a really great job with the new format for the event, although some horses did object to the funfair being quite so close to the show jumping! Pop did an obedient dressage test but I felt it could have been better, so was amazed to find I actually had a score of 27.5, but then realised there were quite a few high marks in the section. Did a lovely clear show jumping and a clear within the time cross country to gain us fifth place!
Borde Hill BE100u18
I felt my dressage test could have been better, but still scored a reasonable 31.5. Was disappointed with a pole down in the show jumping but then realised that a lot of people were having problems and the poles were falling everywhere! Walked the cross country course and realised that it was probably the hardest and most technical I had done! Set off feeling a bit daunted but Pop was feeling fantastic and jumping well and we finished clear and within the time. However, I thought with a 31.5 dressage and a pole show jumping, I would not be able to gain a place in the top two, which was needed to secure a place at the BE100u18 national final. However, the jumping phases had caused lots of problems, and when the placings were finally read out I was amazed to find that I was second and had qualified for Weston Park!
BRC Area 10 Horse Trials Qualifier - Junior 100
Was very pleased with Pop's dressage test, but never expected to get 21.6 for it ! This put us into the lead after the dressage phase, but unfortunately got too fast into one of the show jumps and rolled a pole. But then got a clear within the time cross country and still clinched second place and our team qualified!
Chilham BE100u18 - Our British Eventing Debut
Well we finally got to our first BE after pulling out of Tweseldown due to torrential rain and Munstead being cancelled due to snow! Pop did a nice dressage test for 30.5 and then jumped clear round the show jumping. He galloped round the cross country course confidently, but I decided to take the longer route through the water, and we came home clear with just 1.2 time penalties. Absolutely thrilled to find that this meant we were placed third at our very first BE event!
BRC National Junior Winter Dressage Championships
What an amazing weekend! Pop came second in his arena and all the other team members got good placings too, so our team won! We got some fantastic prizes from www.equestrianclearance.com - a Barnsby bridle each and a lovely rug!
Pony Club Dengie Dressage & Show Jumping Area Qualifiers
Pop qualified for the Championships in both disciplines!