2017 JT & JAS Championships and More!

It was a pretty busy weekend for us and our riders at Hartpury this weekend. On Friday Horse & Rider Magazine held a demo featuring mother and daughter duo, Mary and Emily King, who rode in front of an audience of nearly 800 people. The pair started with a flatwork session using a young homebred horse to demonstrate exercises to develop suppleness, contact and consistency. They then went through more sophisticated moves with Emily’s advanced horse, Dre, demonstrating his travers and flying changes. In the second half of the demo the pair focussed on jumping and altering stride length (not speed!) with fence combinations designed to encourage the horse to sit back and stretch over a fence. A few short video clips can be found on our Facebook page. On Saturday, the British Eventing Jump Training Championships took place with over 57 entries across the three classes. Following a coursewalk with two BE accredited coaches, on this occasion Jonathan Chapman and Baileys rider, Nick Gauntlett, combinations warm up over fences with one coach, then jump a round of show jumps in front of the other. They are marked on style with any fence faults being added before receiving feedback and jumping the round for a second time, which is again scored on style with any additional faults added. The total score is used to give a penalty, with the lowest mark winning. In the BE80, Rebecca Brady won with a score of just 10.5 on her turning five-year old, Hawallie VDL. Rebecca bought Wallie, as he is affectionately known at home, as an unbroken three year old and backed him herself in April last year. The pair started competing in September and look to have a promising future ahead of them. Tegan Wood took second place riding Knockmanus Dusty and Sophia Marston was in third place on a score of 16.5 riding Meiklekims Secret. In the BE90, Kate Prendergast won with a score of 16.5 riding her own Kilpatrick Cassius. The grey gelding, who is fed on No.4 Top Line Conditioning Cubes and Outshine, was foot perfect whilst Katie Stephens-Grandy took second place on a score of 20 with Mr Music and Anna Bruce took third place riding Huckleberry I with a score of 21. The final class of the day was the BE100, which our own grass roots blogger, Jane Bettles, won with Bubbles (aka the ginger ninja or, more formally, Gold Rush IV). The pair were unbeatable and put in a professional round to finish on a score of 12.5. Jenna Good went into second place riding Trewithian Hawkeweed after having a fence down and adding four faults to a style score of 9, whilst Emma Dainty took third place riding Sun City II. Watch out for the blog about the weekend, which we will be posting soon! We finished the day with a talk by Norbrook and Caroline Dickens on the treatment and management of Equine Gastric Ulcers. A video of the talk can be found on our Facebook page. On Sunday it was time for the BE Jump and Style Championships, which included new classes this year by way of including an Open section for the BE90 and BE100. Combinations have to jump a short show jumping course which leads straight into a timed cross country round with knock able elements. They are marked on their style with time penalties and faults being added to give a penalty score, as with Jump Training. With a total of 252 combinations starting, competition was hot. Baileys rider, Ruth Edge, was one of the judges for the day alongside Liz Parsons. The BE 90 was the first class and won by Flora Insley riding Doire Mhianaigh Rocky. The pair finished on their style score of 7, having jumped a double clear inside the time. Charlotte Whitmarsh and Crannagh Lad were hot on their heels, picking up two time faults with Izzy Hall and Uncle Monty finishing in third. The BE 90 Open was won by Jenna, who had taken second place in the JT the day before, finishing on a score of 7 with Eleanor McFarlane finishing in second riding Monbeg Hero and Emily Finston finishing in third riding Comanche Colours. In the BE100 Izzy stepped up to win on a score of 10 with only two time penalties to add, Jenna finished just .1 of a penalty behind on 12.10 and Beth Norman finished in third riding Welham Mile High on a score of 12.2. Natalie McGoldrick won the BE100 Open riding Tricky Johnie, a ten year old gelding who is fed on No.4 Top Line Conditioning Cubes, with a score of 8 and Eve Hobbs took second and third place riding Wye Valley Fabristeard (9) and Fivale Indian Art (10), respectively. Natalie and Tricky Johnie continued to impress the judges, winning the Novice on a score of 4 whilst Georgina Horsley-Gubbins took second with Ellas Melody, having picked up two time penalties and Amy-Louise Harris was third with Bachelor Boy on a score of 15, having had a fence down showjumping and one time penalty to add. In the final section of the day, Laura Walkden won the Open Novice riding Cointreau WV, finishing on a score of 15, Saffie Osborne finished in second place riding Little Indian Feather and Southerly Roberts was third riding Tinx. All-in-all it was a successful weekend and we look forward to it again next year. Good luck to all those competing in the fast approaching season!