Let the road trip begin……..so 2011 was another successful year for Findon at the Area 22 Horse
Trials qualifier’s which took place at Brechin Castle, where the Junior Novice, Senior Novice, Senior
Intermediate and a two individuals qualified for the British Riding Club National Horse Trials
Championships. In the end only the Senior Novice and Intermediate teams made the long journey
south to Aston-le-Walls in Northamptonshire.
The Championships were a little special this year as it was the first time that both the European
CIC**and National Championships have been run together so it gave the competition an extra
special feeling with over 500 competitors.
The Novice team were Pearl Peterkin with Bogton Juniper, Diane Thomson with LeTango, Hannah
Yule with McGuire IV and Liz Paddon with Society Sovereign replacing Claire Sim and the
Intermediate team were Emma Cheyne with Currency Flight, Julie Robertson with Bolairo, Heather
Begg with Kilpatrick Maiden and Turid Reppe-Roverselli with Micky Rabbit replacing Sue Hendry.
After weeks of planning and training, three lorries left Aberdeen on Wednesday headed for a stop
overnight at the lovely Ivy House Stables in Penrith where the horses had the opportunity for a good
leg stretch on their horse walker, and for those who were more adventurous, their horses had a
swim in their equine pool, some being more enthusiastic than others! This place is a lovely stop over
point for anyone doing long journey’s South and the owner is most helpful and friendly so worth
making note.
In the small hours of Thursday morning, the 4 horses and riders travelling with Gavin Jamieson
Transporter, headed off for the second leg of the journey. After unloading all their horses and gear,
they sat patiently in a spare stable watching the rain pour down until the rest of us arrived around
lunchtime.
Thankfully the weather dried up and the horses all settled quickly into the stables while we set up
base camp, quite literally in the lorry park, this was just the start of a great team effort as we only
had one helper, the brilliant Laura Begg who we were all most appreciative of.
The intermediate team started off by doing their trot ups and dressage on the Friday while the
Novice team did some XC fence judging for the Junior championships, before getting set for the start
of our own competition on the Saturday.
The Saturday was a busy day with the Intermediates doing their Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase and
XC and the Novice’s doing their Dressage and SJ. So between our Dressage and SJ we were able to
help in the 10 minute box which was great preparation, certainly for a first timer doing this format,
of what to expect! During the dressage warm up we experienced the first loose horse incident of
the day where a horse being lunged escaped from its owner and decided to bolt through all the
dressage arenas and back through the collecting ring, trailing it’s lunge line! Thankfully no Findon
riders were doing their tests at that point, only warming up, as you can imagine how upsetting that
would be in the middle of anyone’s test, I think all competitors coped admirably.
Later on the Saturday, the second loose horse incident happened, which many of you will have seen
on Facebook or Youtube which was much scarier! One of the German CIC** horse’s bit had snapped
whilst going XC and the horse bolted, jumping cars, a five-bar gate, tents, bicycles and ropes then
circled the lorry park and stabling several times before it found its own stable. Amazingly horse, rider
and spectators were all unscathed, yes the rider stayed on the whole time! Poor Liz was on her way
to SJ when the horse leapt over the five-bar gate and galloped passed her and she still went on to
produce a lovely smooth clear round! There is a lesson to us all though about checking our tack
thoroughly, apparently it was a rubber type bit that snapped!
Both the Intermediate and Novice XC tracks were good championship courses with quite a few
technical questions. The Intermediates did a great job finishing with 3 clear XC rounds.
Unfortunately Heather’s horse wasn’t sound when she returned to her stable after XC and had to
withdraw from the competition, we all hope it’s a minor tweak and Fanta makes a speedy recovery.
On the Saturday night we went along to the Nation’s got Talent in the Marquee where the European
CIC** teams provided “entertainment” while Nigel Taylor and friends were the panel of judges
which resulted in a tie between GB and Belgium. Of course, the only way to decide the winners was
a dance off between the two Chef d’Equipes and the good old clap-o-meter came into play with a
clear winning performance by the GB chef who certainly seemed to be enjoying himself! This was
followed by our die hard Findon karaoke queen’s staying on to party for a bit while the rest of us
headed for bed.
On the Sunday, the remaining three Intermediates did their second trot ups and all passed and went
on to produce 3 good SJ rounds with them finishing in 18th position out of 22 teams, 102 horses ran
in total.
This left the Novice team to do their Roads and Tracks, Steeplechase and XC. We were lying mid
field with only 22 points between the top 16 teams. Having never done this format before it was fair
to say that some of us were heading a little into the unknown and it was great to have other team
members with us who had experience, and could give us advice and help. The Novice team all
finished with clear XC rounds and none of us got lost, well only a little, I’ll mention no names! The
most important thing was all the horses finished safe and sound and there were lots of smiles
around the camp with good performances put in by all. The Novice team finished in 14th place out of
27 teams and Pearl Peterkin was placed 9th individually in her arena so a huge well done to her.
Then we had the long journey home which was eventful what with engines overheating and
punctures but thankfully everyone is now home safe, albeit a little tired, and I think it’s safe to say
we are all keen to do it again next year.
It really is a fantastic opportunity to experience and if you get the chance it’s one that I would grab
wholeheartedly, made even better by a great bunch of team mates who really supported each other
and a special thanks to Julie Robertson for acting as our Chef d’Equipe and keeping us first timers
right.
FINAL RESULTS
Novice team 14th
Pearl Peterkin 9th in arena and 32nd overall
Diane Thomson 11th in arena and 67th overall
Liz Paddon 21st in arena and 112th overall
Hannah Yule 12th in arena and 52nd overall
Intermediate team 18th
Emma Cheyne 20th in arena and 81st overall
Julie Robertson 12th in arena and 31st overall
Heather Begg W/D
Turid Reppe-Roverselli 13th in arena and 56th
overall