Shows

Moat View Jumping Team at BRC Area 10 Competition

On Sunday 10th February Moat View Riding Club entered a team into the BRC Area 10 team show jumping competition at Eaglesfield Equestrian Centre. The team consisted of Buddy Williams (Old Park Rose), Krissi Collens (Special Edition) and Colette Walker (Bolero III).

With around 30 teams jumping in the senior section alone it was going to be a long day! However thankfully the weather was kind and we were blessed with plenty of sunshine.

All three team members took part in the Warm-Up class. However we only discovered it was one round against the closk just before we went into the ring, which caused a bit of panic! The course was up to height with some big spreads and coupled with light plastic poles there were very few clear rounds. Buddy and Krissi incurred a very unlucky 4 faults each and Colette went clear - ending in 7th place.

In the Team class, unfortunately Buddy and Krissi each rolled one unlucky pole, which left the team just outside the 1st - 6th placings (there were only one or two teams with 0 faults - most of those in the top 6 had at least 4 faults). Colette jumped the open section (over a larger than expected course!) and went clear, ending up in 5th place individually.

It was a very long day - we got home between 9.30pm and 10pm and we were all very tired, but it was good fun and the horses tried their best for us! I felt we had a good sense of team spirit and it is was nice to see the team gell so well together. Ironically Buddy, Krissi and Colette used to jump together as children, then lost touch and recently have started jumping together again on the Moat View team.

Colette (team captain) would like to thank everyone who helped with the team on Sunday and of course thank Buddy and Krissi for taking part. Our next team competition is on 1st March at Blue Barn.

A special mention must go to Laura Hackett who was on one of the smallest ponies and was one of the youngest riders. She rode the most determined round over a long and imposing course, to end on just 8 faults. Adam Legge, another junior team member, also deserves a mention for completing the 105cm course in style on a horse he has never competed before, ending on just 4 faults.

The down side of the day was the mud as I am sure anyone who attended will tell you. The 2 hour wait to be towed onto the show ground added to the 5 hour wait to be towed off again made it a very long day, so a big thank you to those members who made the journey to lend their support.

Olympia report

Unusually the Quadrille Final was being held on a Wednesday this year rather than the traditional Saturday, necessitating 2 days of work for most of the team but, we hoped, a better journey through London. Unfortunately events early on Tuesday worked against us and we arrived at Olympia later than intended. No matter though, the horses were soon ensconced in their stables after the compulsory vet check and the mammoth job of unloading kit commenced. Horseboxes have to be parked about a mile away from Olympia itself, a simple task until you factor in squeezing out amongst the coached arriving for the evening performance and crossing Kensington High street amid the Christmas rush – sometime later poor Frances and Ashley returned.

Due to the change of day this year we were able to watch the Grand Prix Kur something I was particularly looking forward to; we saw some beautiful horses although Frances, Sarah and I all thought we could give the riders some tips on music choice! The horses were then set fair for the night and we trudged our weary way to our hotel – trying to find a cheap hotel within walking distance that can accommodate 12 of us doesn’t get any easier; one of these years I’ll be bold enough to book it before we have qualified! The kilometre walk was repeated again at 5:30 the following morning, at least it wasn’t raining.

This is always a difficult period on competition day as there is a lull between feeding and actually being able to get into the arena to work the horses, however, this year it was filled by a frantic moving operation as the Stable Manager had said we could move the barrier between us and the FEI dressage horses in order to move Connor into the box next to Eric. However, we could only do it if we moved the tack etc that had been left in it outside NEATLY – it did belong to Carl Hester after all. Dolendo who was stabled opposite kept a benign eye on proceedings.

Last year Sarah managed to commandeer the float used in the Finale, this time it was a small room behind the stables complete with table, chairs and a decent light! We have honed our procedure for getting horses and riders dressed to the nth degree but it still takes about 2 hours. Much of the costume is very simple and straightforward to put on but both the rugs and the wings take at least 2 people to fit them correctly. In the past the judges have been a bit twitchy about being on time, mercifully this year they seemed more relaxed – we would have been on time but for taking a route through to the collecting ring that didn’t accommodate the wings!! A quick about turn and moments later there they were in the ring.

We haven’t received our judging sheets back yet, so we can’t be certain, but the impression we got this year was that they weren’t being quite as nit-picking as they’ve been in the past. This phase completed we just had to wait for our turn to perform. I managed to watch Worlington RC’s Dandy Highwaymen; their routing looked to be pretty accurate but, for me, it lacked the flair that it had had at Addington – first to go is always a difficult slot and with a smaller audience than the usual Saturday crowd it seemed difficult to whip up any sort of atmosphere. Next were, Southerndown RC’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears – I didn’t see much of the routine but they seemed a bit disappointed as they left the arena. The New Forest Pony Enthusiasts followed and had huge foot-stomping support from their supporters who did their very best to get the atmosphere going. Their routine appeared to be a very neat, accurate one.

Finally it was out turn. Watching as manager is not an easy task, I knew they could do it – they had practised so hard and ridden it perfectly on numerous occasions – but doing it at Olympia is not an easy thing.

Sarah and I exchanged one or two anxious glances at the beginning of the routine but then we started to relax as the Angels got it together. The arena had been ‘measured’ extremely tightly but it is only once you start riding the routine that you can work out where and how to make adjustments necessary to fit your movements in where you want them to be. The final part of the routine looked foot-perfect but I wasn’t convinced that they had done enough to win. Whilst we were all gabbling away the results were being announced – I turned to the team and said “I think you’ve just won!”. To our collective amazement they had – that is perhaps a little unfair as I felt they were hot favourites going into the competition, we had a complicated routine with music that fitted the theme perfectly and told the story beautifully; added to this were the costumes which the judges at Addington had told us were ‘worthy of a West End show’ – in that arena the girls looked truly magnificent and did the Club proud.

The Club received high praise not only for winning but simply for qualifying in our first year of affiliation – just shows what hard work and determination can do. Here’s to next year . . .

Finally a huge thank you to the team: riders, horses, costume makers, grooms, music finders, lorry drivers etc etc without whom none of this would be possible.

On 6th October MVRC sent 4 riders to Addington Manor EC to compete in the Quadrille qualifiers. 4 teams go forward to Olympia on Wednesday 19th December.

MoatView Riding Club

Olympia report