WEBSITE NAME HERE
| Wonderful day for the dressage team at Kirdford qualifier sunday 18 May 08 |
Teams |
Summer Championship Results 2008 HICKSTEAD 2008 West Sussex Witches. West Sussex Wallabies. West Sussex Wombats – Finished 8th overall The day was dry but the ground was very soggy. There were hundreds of competitors and the competition was tougher than ever! Everyone had a successful day despite a few poles rolling and a very naughty run out!! OFFCHURCH HORSE TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - August 2008 The first weekend in August saw the 2008 National Horse Trials Championships which were held again at the Off Church Estate near Bury in Gloucestershire. This year we had an Intermediate team, a junior team and a senior novice individual. The teams were as follows… Intermediate: Edna Petter riding Isaac, Michael Smyth riding Dark Pretender (Wilf) and Sophie Ashton-Rickardt riding Symphony. Junior: Jessica Wilkinson riding Dock Leaf’s Lad (Robbo), Hannah Stickley riding Eastwood Help Me Out (Aida), Tom Standing riding Spot On (Alfie) and Amy Sheen riding Nobody’s Fool (Murphy). Kirsty Walker riding Claudia competed in the senior novice section as an individual. The junior event was run as a One Day Event and they all set off for the dressage arenas early on Friday morning. For Hannah it was her second year and for Tom, Amy and Jess this was their first time at the National Horse Trials Championships. They were all nervous and most of them were happy to admit that dressage was not their horses’ favourite discipline! However they all came away with reasonable scores despite the weather turning on them as the heavens opened. The Senior Intermediate competition took place over three days, with the inclusion of roads and tracks and steeplechase phases on the cross country day. The rain did not let up for this event and at the juniors were tackling the cross country course; Edna, Sophie and Michael were having vet checks and trying to do their dressage in between the down pours! They all finished with really good scores which put them in a good position for the cross country and speed and endurance the next day. Saturday was also wet and the ground was boggy! The speed and endurance was split in to 3 phases. Phase A was a roads and tracks course which was, in simple terms, a gentle hack. Following this was the Phase B steeple chase course. This was a 2 minute course with three steeple chase fences to be jumped twice. The 2 minute time was tight and but Michael came in at 1.59 and Sophie exactly on 2minutes, Edna finished on 2.03. There was no time for stopping after the steeple chase as they continued straight on to Phase C which was another roads and tracks course, taking approximately 35 minutes. Having had a chance to catch their breath on Phase C they came to Phase D, the cross country section. After a 10 minute cool off and vet check they were straight on the cross country phase. The course was incredibly challenging and all I can say is I am glad it was them and not me! The fences were enormous and the ditches were wide! Michael said they were too small though and he would like to do the Open course next year which consisted of even bigger jumps which scared me to even look at!!! However despite a cock up with the timing at the start, and Michael having to literally jump on and go from the 10 minute box straight through the start. They all had fantastic rounds and came back with smiles on their faces. Unfortunately the team did not get placed, but Michael was placed 9th individually, Sophie was 13th and Edna was 14th. Congratulations! The Senior Novice event took place over two days, with roads and tracks and steeplechase included. Kirsty Walker and Claudia represented the club in this section and their experience last year paid off as they were both raring to go! They did a wonderful dressage test on Saturday as the Intermediates were doing their cross country, which got a very high mark (despite some very harsh judging!). By the time they got to the show jumping stage the ground was really wet! However they jumped a wonderful clear round and put themselves in a good position for the final phase. Their last phase was on Sunday and the weather did clear up a little bit! The competition took the same structure as the intermediate event and Kirsty and Claudia set off on Phase A. They came to the steeple chase course in good time, the ground on the course was at its worst and I can only describe it as muddy! Claudia coped well and they got round in the 2 minutes required. Phase C gave them plenty of time to chill out and prepare for the cross country. I know Kirsty was nervous coming to the cross country as they were eliminated last year. However they had absolutely nothing to worry about and Claudia took all the fences in her stride jumping a wonderful clear round! (photos to follow) Kirsty and Claudia finished in 5th place which was a huge achievement and they thoroughly deserved it. Well done to everyone who competed and thank you to everyone who was there to support the club. LINCOLN NATIONAL SHOW JUMPING AND DRESSAGE CHAMPIONSHIPS, September 2008. Hmmm…there really isn’t a lot I can say about Lincoln apart from rain, mud and more rain! This year is the first year we have had a senior team qualify for the show jumping and dressage competitions, we have had a lot of individual competitors in the past who have done very well, but the pressure was on this year as we went as a team…Trisha Hoal and Odina, Kirsty Walker and Claudia, Ali Gooding and Buddy and Me and Chester. Jackie Oxley and Jay were on the qualifying team but were unable to compete because Jackie had a knee operation a few weeks before. So thank you to Ali for stepping in at the last minute. Kirsty also qualified as an individual in the medium dressage competition. We set off in the rain on Friday morning for a five hour journey to Lincolnshire! We arrived as they were beginning to tow lorries on to the show ground but we were lucky enough to find a good spot not far from the stables and close to the loos (very important!) We got the horses settled and went to walk the show jumping course. The ground was quite solid at this point but the rain was still pouring down! The course was definitely up to height and gave everyone something to think about with spreads, uprights, doubles and triples. After taking a last look at our dressage tests we settled down for the night only to be woken every now and them from rain drumming on the roof (well, I was woken up even if no one else was!). Saturday morning, and there was no real change in the weather. Kirsty and I went to warm up for the dressage and Ali and Trisha headed towards the show jumping. Just as we went to do our dressage tests the heavens opened and although it did not affect Claudia too much Chester struggled in the rain on the wet ground. Ali jumped a clear round and Trish had one pole down, the jumping ground was sticky and a lot of horses were struggling. We swapped places and Kirsty and I went to jump as Trish and Ali went to do their team dressage. Kirsty and I jumped clear rounds and Kirsty had to rush off for her Medium dressage test. Ali and Trisha did very good dressage tests and everyone was in good spirits…for the moment! The rain was coming in bursts and the ground was not improving. As the second round of show jumping started the jumps were raised and the course changed. The second round was 10 times harder than the first, the ground was not only sticky but very slippery and there were pole rolling everywhere. Horses and riders were struggling and some were luckier than others. Trish and Ali fell off and although they were shaken they were not hurt too much. Half way through the competition they decided to move the jumps for safety reasons, however it did not help an awful lot as it was wet and slushy. They restarted the competition, I jumped round and finished with 12 faults and Kirsty had 16. The horses all struggled and there were only 2 double clear round throughout the day with over 300 competitors! This just about wraps up the team events for this year and although the London and South East Championships are next weekend, we are beginning to think about next year. If you are interested in competing in a team next year please contact Jackie. Thank you so mush to everyone who has competed this year, we have had another successful year which has had its ups and downs, but I think everyone has had a good time and we have had more people than ever having a go at team events. Best of luck with the winter competitions and I hope to see you all around soon. Cordelia.x Another successful day for our teams! On 25th May we sent several teams to compete in our area horse trials qualifier. The event was run by Horsham and District riding club at Coombelands, near Pulborough. We had teams competing in the Junior, Novice and Intermediate sections for a place at the National Championships at Off Church in August. As well as the national competition there was a London and South East qualifying competition for which we entered senior novice teams, and the South Coast Championship in which our intermediate team competed. We were very lucky with the weather and it didn’t rain, unlike last year when we all got soaked! Everyone enjoyed the day and rode very well. For Tom Standing, Jess Wilkinson, Julie Cockerill, Anne Britton and me, it was our first ODE so we were trying to keep the nerves at bay! The Junior team did a wonderful job scoring well in the dressage, the show jumping and cross country proved to be tricky for some but they all rode like champions and won their event. A special congratulations must go to Tom Standing and Spot On who went clear in both the show jumping and Cross Country phases and won the individual event. The senior competition followed and we all had good dressage scores. The show jumping and cross country were good as well and we had several clear rounds (even though some horses thought it would be a good idea to go round upside down!!) Our Intermediate team had a very good day as well. Sophie scored the highest dressage score she has ever got at a ODE and the others also did well. The show jumping went without a hitch and then we come to the cross country. Michael, Edna and Michelle got round clear but Sophie decided to dismount at the third fence (I don’t think she had a lot of choice in the matter!) but she jumped back on and completed the course without a problem. They finished in 1st place, but not without Horsham putting up a fight, and will join the juniors and Kirsty at Off Church in August. I must say a big thank you to Michelle McDonald who stepped in to fill a space in the L&SE team so had to ride 2 horses on the day! Also to Jenny who provided food and drink for us to refuel afterwards, and all the members who turned up to help on the day, it was much appreciated. Thank you to Stockley Trading who provided us with our very vibrant team colours for the occasion, everyone looked very smart (photos on the website soon). All in all a good day was had by all and we are looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on at Off Church. The teams and placings were as follows; Junior National Team Senior National and London and South East Team London and South East Team Senior National and SouthCoast Championship Team Placed 1st Senior National and SouthCoast Championship Team DRESSAGE QUALIFIER AT KIRDFORD SUNDAY 18 MAY 08 WOW!! - Even Dressage can have a nail biting finish!! Well Done to all Val Castle Goring 21 June 08 - Show Jumping Teams Dear All, Junior and Senior Style Jumping 2008 TEAM UPDATE!
I thought you might like an update on how our teams are going in 2008! Sorry this missed the newsletter . In February we sent 4 teams to Sands Farm Equestrian Centre for the NAF Indoor Novice competition. Our Seniors kicked off the day and the teams were as follows: The West Sussex Witches: Trisha Hoal on Odina, Jackie Oxley on Head Over Heels (Jay!), Michelle McDonald on Dennis and Me on Chester! The West Sussex Wasps: Kirsty Walker on Claudia, Jan Haines on Molly Magic, Michelle McDonald on Hannah and Ali Gooding on Wonderstern (Buddy). Everyone jumped really well, Michelle and I got double clears and a special well done must go to Jan Haines who had not competed on a team before! The ‘Witches’ came 2nd and the ‘Wasps’ came 3rd! The juniors rode next and again we had two teams; The West Sussex Wonder Kids: Chelsea Jelley on Doc II, Charlie Smyth on Barley, Hannah Stickley on Aida and Anne Cole on Abbey Spring Molly. The West Sussex Wild Kids: Amy Sheen on Nobody’s Fool (Murphy), Tom Standing on Alfie, Sophie Langmead on Harry Potter and Jessica Wilkinson on Doc Leaf’s Lad. The juniors all jumped fantastically and the ‘Wonder Kids’ won the class with the Wild Kids coming 3rd. Well done to everyone especially Anne Cole, Sophie Langmead and Tom Standing as this was their first team competition. Well done everyone! The NAF Indoor Championships!
The ‘Wonder kids’ qualified for the Championship which was held last weekend (6th April) at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire. Unfortunately Anne Cole was not able to make the championships but Tom Standing stepped in and took her place. As you know the weather was not great and although we did have some sunshine, sleeping in the horsebox in the snow was rather chilly! I must say a huge thank you to Sara Smyth, Jane Stickley and Caroline Allen who drove the teams (and me!) to Hartpury. The first round was supposed to be 2’6’’ but was much nearer the 2’9’’ mark and walking the course in the dark the night before did not help anyone nerves. There were 30 teams competing from riding clubs all over the country! Chelsea and Doc rode first and jumped an effortless clear round. They were followed by Hannah and Aida who unfortunately were eliminated at a particularly spooky fence, Hannah rode very well but Aida was not in the mood! Charlie rode next and Barley was on top form jumping a lovely clear round. Tom was last and rode brilliantly landing a clear round in his first championship competition for the club. They were won of only 5 teams to finish the first round with no faults! The second round, which was supposed to be 2’9’’ was probably more like 3 foot. Chelsea jumped another lovely clear round as did Charlie. Hannah had a bad fall at the second part of a big double and landed rather painfully on the flower pot, she scared us all for a while thinking she had broken a rib but thankfully she was ok and was just badly bruised. Tom was under a lot of pressure to jump clear as there were very few teams finishing with no faults. He jumped really well, but rolled two poles and finished on 8 faults. This meant the team finished both rounds on a very respectable 8 faults and came 7th over all! There was only one team that finished on 0 and three on 4 faults. They all rode like pro’s and I was very proud of all of them. Well done and we hope to see them all again competing for the club later this year.
OUR TEAMS As a club we provide opportunities to ride and compete as part of a team, at local, area and national level. We have teams in the following disciplines:
DRESSAGE TEAMS – Val Hall SHOWJUMPING & HORSE TRIALS TEAMS - Cordelia Gilbert-Johnson |
