Area 5 Horse Trials Report 3rd July 2011
The sun was out for our trip to the Area 5 Horse trials on 3rd July. This meant the ground was unavoidably hard but Solihull had made every effort to improve it; show jumping was held on a surface and the cross country jumps had sand on the landing side with much of the ground between them being spiked.
In the 90 cm Novice class we had a ‘pea’ team consisting of Frances Small, Laura Leigh, Katie Hughes and Heather Clark. While myself and Michaela Foreman were the ‘spare parts’ competing as individuals.
Frances and Laura had an early start both doing dressage in adjacent arenas just after 9am. It was then off to the show jumping where they both produced their customary clear rounds.
Frances was our first competitor out on the cross country with Cas who has been on many ESRC teams. She let her mom know how glad she was to be back out competing by getting very strong which unfortunately this led to a couple of stops en route but they got home safely. It was only in April when Cary’s was fighting for her life at the vet hospital in Liverpool so it was great to see her back to her enthusiastic self.
Next away was Laura on Crystal Maze they jumped a fabulous cross country round until the penultimate fence, a drop to skinny combination, where they missed their line which resulted in an unusual and annoying 20 penalties.
It was then my turn with Holly who did a consistent dressage getting straight 6’s all the way through. Holly finds this SJ arena quite distracting as the cross country course is clearly visible from one end, however she managed to concentrate enough this time to jump clear. It was then off to the exciting bit the cross country! Holly was a star we had a momentary wobble going the direct route into the water (which was jumped away from home this time) but finished clear and with just 6 time penalties to add.
Kale was making her debut for the club on Patchwork Prince (aka Harry) although very nervous beforehand they rose to the occasion. Dressage went well apart from the canter on one rein and in the show jumping they just rolled a pole for an unfortunate 4 penalties. It was then off to the cross country where despite Kales nerves they looked good right from the start skipping easily over all the fences to finish clear with a big smile on their faces. A great performance and I’m sure they will be in the running for a team place at future events.
We were then back to the final two team competitors. Katie turned in her usual polished dressage performance for a score of 26.8 and followed this up with a clear in the show jumping so they had it all to play for on the cross country. At the June event they had picked up a number of time penalties which put them out of the reckoning. This time Katie put her foot down and they came home clear inside the time to win their section and qualify for the national championships!
Our last competitor in the novice was Heather with Coco, they had been prompted to the team following a good performance at the event in June. They didn’t let us down posting a dressage score in the 30’s then adding an unfortunate 4 faults when rolling a pole in the show jumping before going clear inside the time across country to finish in a very respectable 6th place.
We just had two competitors competing as individuals in the intermediate class. Sophie Holder did a nice dressage test on Imaginative but he then put in stops at fence 5 and 8 in the show jumping. They started cross country but after a couple of stops early on Sophie wisely took the decision to pull up as Magic obviously wasn’t feeling happy. That’s horses for you, I’m sure they will be out winning again soon.
So finally it was down to Kirsty with Airspeed who was placed at the Hunter Challenge in April. They turned in a very smart dressage test for 31.1 penalties which was the best in her section and then proceeded to jump clear show jumping (yes Kirsty remembered the way this time!) and so had it all to play for when setting out on the cross country. They jumped a fabulous round coming home clear inside the time to finish on their dressage score and win their section. So we have two competitors qualified for the national championship in August.

This was a fabulous result well done girls I’m a very happy and proud chef d equip J

Jenny Millman

P.S. National Championships are being held on 5 - 7 August 2011 at Aston-le-Walls, Northamptonshire NN11 6RT. The novice is a two day event and the intermediates do a three day event complete with roads and tracks. These competitions are running alongside the European CIC**Championships so should make a good day out if you fancy popping along to giving Katie and Kirsty some support.

Area 5 Festival of the Hunter challenge, Sunday 10th April

Lost horses, lost shoes and lost all sense of direction! ….
We had two teams entered up for the Area 5 Hunter Challenge in Atherstone on 10th April. Problems started on the Friday before the competition when I had a call from Fran to say our team stalwart Carys Mai was colicing and would be unable to compete at the weekend. She has subsequently been transferred to Liverpool so we are all keeping our fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. This meant my enthusiastic but still inexperienced pony Holly was prompted to the team.
The novice team all walked the course the day before, enjoying a cooling paddle enroute through the two river crossings.
Height wise the course looked jumpable although it included step, half coffin, full coffin and several fences with a drops on landing. However it was very twisty especially for the bigger horses and the A and B elements of fence 15 looked impossible to do without crossing your tracks unless you were sat on a gymkhana pony.
The day dawned bright and sunny as the weather forecast had promised and the Novice ‘peas in a pod’ team all arrived safely.  This competition involves jumping a course of show jumps then proceeding directly on to a cross country section. The team riders all followed each other which meant we could all warm up together and the supporters got to watch everyone go.
Things started brilliantly with us all jumping clear round the show jumping section it was then on to the cross country. Archie our path finder was not his normal self putting some uncharacteristic stops at some straight forward fences so Katie did well to nurse him round.
Tory was next on Roli who made the course look easy but they found they simply could not make the turn between A&B elements of fence 15 so had to represent at the second element the only hiccup on an otherwise good round.
Crystal then gave Laura a lovely ride carrying her safely down the big step she was worried about at fence 5. Their only problem again was the turn at fence 15 where Laura elected to circle to get to the second element.
Finally it was me on Holly. It all started well flying over the first few fences till we got to the half coffin at seven.  We had a big green jump over the first element before Holly decided to duck left to avoid the monster filled water ditch. I was slowly decanted out of the side door luckily hanging on long enough to ensure I landed on dry ground! Holly then galloped off back to her mom in the collecting ring leaving me to walk back from the furthest point on the course. The score board showed there were very few clears and only three novice teams were able to complete so the course was certainly quite tough.

There was then plenty of time for us to relax in the sunshine and enjoy a picnic!

The intermediate team were on in the afternoon. Having all arrived safely and walked the course poor Sally our pathfinder got back to the trailer to find Sunnyvilla had managed to pull off a shoe. With no blacksmith available to put it back on she had no choice but to withdraw which was very disappointing on what was to be her team debut.
This left us with a team of three so all scores had to count. Again it all started well Harriet and Rachael both posted clear show jumping rounds including the notorious gate at fence 2 which everyone else was flattening. Airspeed jumped all the fences clear too but Kirsty had a ‘blond moment’ resulting in circle and technical 4 faults plus time penalties.
Our team horses all made the cross country section look easy jumping all the fences they were asked to with ease. What a shame Harriet and Rachael’s ’blond moments’ involved missing out a couple of fences incurring elimination!
Final results showed only six individuals completed and Kirsty was in fourth place despite her navigational issues so ESRC had a ribbon. There were no intermediate teams who were able to post a score. 
At the end of a long day the suntanned gang from ESRC headed for home hoping for better luck at the Horse Trials in July.

Area 5 Winter Show Jumping report 2011

Following much thought over the winter months ESRC committee had finally come to the crunch and we said farewell to Area 20.  Having competed at Area 20 since becoming a member I could see the positives to this transfer.  Area 5 is a well known area for excellent facilities, easy accessible venues and extremely good competition, with some riding clubs sending no less that 5 teams to some events! (Bearing in mind at Area 20 I often struggled to get 1 team of 3 riders!)  So having made the move to Area 5 I hoped it would bring some fresh enthusiasm to my jumping constellation!

East Shropshire’s debut at Area 5 show jumping was scheduled for Sunday 13th February at the ever impressive Solihull Riding Club.  Previously at Area 20, it was part of the competition policy for each riding club to provide a steward before enabling the teams to participate; this rule is now not applicable at Area 5 J.  At Area 5 they also organise other competitions to take place on the same day so a rider can have a selection of classes for either warm up or bigger courses should they prefer.  They are not all qualifier classes but Area 5 run a points system which totals up at the end of the season and they then do a presentation evening inviting all clubs in area 5 for a night out.  It’s all very sociable!!

I was therefore very pleased to have a good response and to enter not only a novice team of 4, but also 5 Royal Windsor potentials and 2 individual riders to my first Area 5 event.  My biggest travelling squad yet!! Our Novice team was Katie Hughes & Marble Arch, Jenny Millman & Holly, Laura Leigh & Collfosco and I brought up the rear with my ever honest, Carys Mai.  Individual riders were Simon Gibbons & Abba, and Lisa Mullen riding Daid O’Diamond.  On top of this we were also joined by Sophie Holder & Imaginative, Jessica Holmes with Rocky and Diane Bowen & Star for the Royal Windsor rounds.

Excited as I was with all the fresh interest and enthusiasm, little did I know how much paperwork was about to reach the screen of my laptop before the schedules were even printed!!  With help from Bev & in traditional Frances fashion (not wanting to show East Shropshire up at our first Area 5 outing) I moved into a hut of paper and ink (aka my dining room...with table...somewhere) as I was adamant that everything must be spot on, first impressions count! I therefore apologise now to all my ever patient riders for chasing you so hard for passport dates, passport photocopies, horse names in full, winnings and points queries, entry fees broken down individually, what you must do when arriving at the event and anything else that my random calls covered!  For after all that pestering it turned out we were the only riding club at the event to actually return all our paperwork correctly!!! So not only did we make an impression on paper, but now I’d set a standard to follow!!!!

The morning of the 13th started as the weatherman predicted > WET!  But this was not enough to put off our riders, or our HUGE support team!  I’ve never quite seen (or heard!) so many familiar faces at an area event, what a lovely surprise!!  Our team “Peas in the Pod” was looking quite favourable after warming up, even in the confined conditions.  Although an excellent venue, the warm up area wasn’t really catering for the vast amount of competitors requiring working in space for 2 arenas, Carys Mai was showing full form and 4 times offered to take out careless members of the opposition when riding too close. Frustrating as it was it became even more so when a  miss-hap in the Royal Windsor arena declared the team’s first round was now running 1 hour late!!  Cold and wet everyone persevered and the teams spirit was raised in more ways than one when lucky spectators found the coffee shop also offered alcohol.  After what felt an age we were given a warm up call, although the poor horses were feeling a bit disgruntled by this point, however another nice touch Area 5 offer is that the team jump together not hours apart, enabling us to watch and be there to offer each other support and encouragement.  The moment had come; would ESRC fall flat on our faces at our first Area 5 debut? ...

A huge WHOOP from the supporters on the sidelines told us our trailblazer Katie was on, with an added thought of a brandy waiting at the end of every clear round she & Archie soared round clear without hesitation, our crowd erupted!
Next in Jenny and Holly, determined to go the right way and redeem herself from last summer’s “senile moment” they held their heads high and completed the course in exceptional style, clear within the time.  Two brandy’s down, two to go.
Laura and Collfosco were third into the lion’s den. Collfosco was showing no signs of having recently recovered from a rough ordeal over winter and was jumping out of her shoes until meeting the bogey fence on the course (“ARRRRHHH it has a big letter ‘J’ on it”!)  Laura kicked on but Collfosco just sliced it and 4 faults were added to her otherwise pleasing faultless round. 
Feeling the tension, or was it just excitement now?! Carys bounded into the arena and we set off at her usual rate of knots!  Having waited around for an hour more than expected she felt a bit flat and sleepy until the ‘bogey’ fence; ears pricked, eyes on stalks, hocks locking, “not today young lady” I found myself thinking (knowing me I probably said it!) as I held tight and stag leaped into the air followed by a deep “OOOOH” from the spectators as they witnessed the filler bounce out of its cup and land straight back in it!  It was enough to wake us up to finish off clear and claim the final brandy!!!

Team’s first round over we focused on some of our Royal Windsor riders.  Sophie Holder was having a particularly sensitive time with a very anxious Imaginative due to the restricted warm up area.  Persevering Sophie made it into the class but Imaginative was still too unsettled to focus on the job in hand and they retired for the day.  As we all know, horses have good and bad days too!

Our two ‘second round’ Royal Windsor riders (having qualified at our own ESRC show first rounds); Diane Bowen and Jessica Holmes were both raring to go for their classes.  Both riders put on a fantastic performance for our vocal supporters and they both cleared the all important Joker fence to achieve high scores within 1 minute of skilled riding.  After the final scores were toted East Shropshire Riding Club was flying high on the Area 5 score board with Jessica and Rocky finishing in 2nd place and Diane and Star taking home 5th. 

New member Simon Gibbons and young Abba were out for an educating experience running as novice individuals & Royal Windsor.  Considering it was only their second jumping event they rode an impressive round showing much potential for future events and certainly went home on a positive note.

All too soon it was time to tack the tired “Peas in a Pod” ponies back up and warm up for the second round.  Thankfully the second round was now in the indoor arena so we at least got some small reprieve from the now hammering rain.  Over the now bigger course, with added tiredness and sogginess, Katie and Archie powered round to finish with just an unfortunate fence down.  This was surprisingly followed by an identical round from Jenny and Holly; fence 5 was proving to be a thorn in our side.  Laura and Collfosco put in a great effort but yet again fence 5 caught us short and the pole hit the ground!  Determined to get our fellow “peas” home and dry(er), Carys and I put our best feet forward and she proved fence 5 wrong, finishing the team on a good note and taking home a double clear.   Thankfully results were quick to publish and as the team’s 3 highest scores would be taken we finished on 8 faults, which just put us outside of the rosettes coming 7th out of 17 teams entered!  Certainly not bad on debut!

With a drawn out, wet but pleasantly satisfying day coming to a close I joined the last remaining spectators to watch our newest member Lisa Mullen and Daid O’Diamonds in her Royal Windsor qualifier.  Lisa was the penultimate rider and having watched a few go she told us of her challenging plan followed by...“well, if we knock one down I don’t know where we’ll go; I guess we’ll just jump it on the floor”...with this resourceful comment in our mind her minute started.  Lisa cleared the first 100 score fence, but catastrophe struck as the 120 score fence came clattering down.  She stuck to her plan to jump the all important Joker on a tight hairpin turn and we all closed our eyes and held our breath, Daid responded impeccably and jumped the giant 200 score fence clear, she double backed round to another 100 fence and back to the Joker for double marking, from there on she was cruising.  Adding the score on route we knew even with the fence down she was in with a really good chance of winning! Could this mean for the 3rd year running ESRC would have another representative at the Royal Windsor Horse Show? Yes it sure did, a thrilled Lisa was donned with a red rosette and modestly admitted that after the fence fell the rest of her course just naturally fell into place.

I was so pleased with all our competitors efforts and I’m pretty sure even with the weather; the team & supporters left Area 5 with our heads held high & full of pride to be representing East Shropshire Riding Club!

If you are reading this and would like to have a go at the summer show jumping please look out for the forthcoming information in our program or contact me.  It is a fantastic way to get to know members of your club and relish in the team spirit that we are so proud about!  Hopefully now we are at Area 5 I will be able to persuade even more of you, even if you just want to come to cheer competitors on and drink the brandy!!!  J

Frances Small
Show Jumping Chef d’equip.

Showjumping Qualifiers @ Middlewich 20th June
A gorgeous summer’s day was the backdrop for this year’s Area 20 outdoor show jumping qualifiers held at Middlewich.  Unusual for the UK; the lack of rain meant hard ground was a guarantee but good grass coverage offered some much appreciated cushioning to the delicate limbs of our travelling squad.
This year I was pleased to be taking a Senior Novice team and a Senior Open individual, most of which were experiencing their first time at an area event. 
Our Brave Open rider was Charlotte Monk and Donnie Darko, who unfortunately spent most of the glorious day sat on the M6 after both lanes were closed due to a horrific accident.  Whilst having front row seats to watch the skill of the air ambulance landing, they made themselves comfortable with bacon sandwiches and a good cuppa to pass the time until police were able to turn traffic around and they could get moving again.  After re routing; 4 hours later they finally made the showground and were allowed to compete.  Circumstances considered Charlotte and Donnie Darko put on a fantastic performance, jumping the first round clear.  With only a short warm up after standing for so long on the box and having only a short break between course change (every other horse got about 2 hrs rest, Donnie Darko got 2 minutes) they felt the pressure and on the second round had a very unlucky last fence down.  But all credit to Charlotte, her Mom and Donnie Darko, who even after all the wait continued to the event when many would have given up and gone home! 
For 2010 I presented a new  Novice team consisted of Laura Strong with Take my Turn, Laura Leigh and Collfosco, Jenny Millman riding Holly and to make up the team I brought the ever reliable Carys Mai out for her first outing since her arthritis diagnosis in February.
Carys Mai was the team trailblazer and gave the team a good start with a solid clear within the time limit.  Laura Strong and Take My Turn were second to ride, and produced a lovely round until Take My Turn’s thoughts turned to “I’d like to do it all again and want to jump the first fence”… not the final, but Laura managed to keep him on course and finished with just an unlucky fence down at the last.
Laura Leigh and Collfosco were next to go and whilst fighting the nerves also had to fight to get in, as the event that had been running ½ hour late had caught up and no announcement had been made.   This resulted in Laura having little warm up time, which nerves wise was a benefit as before she knew it she was in the arena!  After a brief look at the first fence and a sudden grit of determination they got going and showed a good steady round ensuring they kept every fence up (whey hey Laura!), finishing with just a few time faults.
So far so good, my novice team were really giving their all...what could possibly go wrong?  With our first round nearly over and final rider to go we prepared ourselves for the flight of Jenny Millman and Holly.  Holly was on top form flying the fences put before her, but as Holly said after Elimination...”I can only jump the ones that are put in front of me”.  Poor Jen had a golden senior moment and regardless of us all riding the course with her and wishing her back over fence 6 she missed it out and jumped fence 7 so was unable to complete the course.  (Jen, it happens to us all!x)
As we entered the second round all riders appeared to feel more confident in the course, Carys Mai put any doubts at bay and accomplished a clear round in her typical crazy chestnut manner, closely followed by a well executed clear by Laura Strong and Take My Turn…definatly one for the team next year I reckon!!
Laura Leigh and Collfosco started their second round on good form with Laura determined to keep those poles up.  She did an absolutely sterling job but on the penultimate fence a slight direction disagreement resulted in Laura and Collfosco parting company.  Thankfully short of a few bumps and bruises Laura was fine and confirmed that for next summer’s area qualifier she would invest in some sticky bum jodhpurs.
Rounding our day off was Jenny and Holly.  Eager to redeem themselves after the first round they hurtled at fence one before settling in to complete a stunning clear round…including fence 6!!  Excellent riding all round squad!!
With a double clear Carys Mai had qualified for the jump off, but as I had promised her she was doing “one for the team” I felt there was little need for us to continue as an individual.  She had come back in good form on hard conditions so I was more than happy with our efforts.  I therefore retired from the competition.  No rosettes’ coming home this time but it’s not about the winning! It’s the team unity and being brave enough to represent the club, and I’m sure we will have a team to recon with for 2011!
If anyone would like to have a go at area competitions please don’t wait to be asked, we open the opportunity to everyone, be brave and come forward because we love to have new competitors!!!

Junior Winter Team Dressage Qualifier @ Tushingham 25th October 2009
The area 20 junior dressage was held on the 25th of October at Tushingham arena. The weather was very good a nice sunny day a little windy but dry which was the main thing.

The team consisted of Lauren Hickman riding Jimmie, Sophie Whiting riding Gibside Lord Percy and Charlotte Monk riding Harley.

Lauren and Sophie were riding a h 12 test and Charlotte riding novice 25 . All 3 team members did very good tests and all were pleased with there mounts, although Harley was a little spooky at the huge terrifying doors on the indoor school.

The morning turned out really well and there were no major hiccups, apart from the fact that the tack rules stated that white gloves had to be worn, and we only had one pair between three riders! So thanks to Lauren for loaning her gloves to Sophie and Charlotte.

They must have been lucky gloves as the team finished in third place overall, with all our competitors receiving individual placing. Lauren finished third in the h12 test with Sophie obtaining a sixth place in the same class. Charlotte on Harley finished individual fourth in the novice class.

All the competitors and horses were turned out immaculately and were a real credit to East Shropshire RC, .So a big thank you to our members for representing the club at area level and also to Anne and Di for getting the horses and competitors there , also thanks to Judith Gittins for being our team helper for the day .

Louise

Junior & Senior Dressage/Riding Test/Rural Riders Qualifiers @ Llanymynech, 11th July 09
The day of the area 20 dressage qualifiers at Llanymynech started off very early indeed, Jen with a little leading by me had heroically agreed to do the not so nice job of checking the flu vaccination certificates at the competition so needed to be in position for 7.30am. As Jen, Bev and I arrived at Llanymynech it was very misty and raining which looked set to be in for the day, amazingly after being there for an hour or so it cleared and the day stayed dry and fairly warm.

We were able to send 3 teams to the area 20 qualifier, one senior novice team, which consisted of Sharon Baxter riding Witch Hazel, Margaret Thomas riding Mines a Poppit, Wendy Mcgarry riding Thomas O'coil and Louise Ellis riding Ebony. The second senior team which was an open team consisted of Tracey Crane riding Pink Floyd, Lucy Crane riding Mr. Causeway, Lucy Tait-Harris riding Stanhopes Sonakey and Jane Ratcliffe riding Dandi Khan. Our third team was a junior team which included Lyndsey Haddon riding Pimpernells Diamond, Lauren Hickman riding Jimmie and Lauren Woodhouse riding Harvey.

The club and its members competing on the day had amazing results with every team member coming home with a rosette and some fantastic scores. The senior novice team finished fourth overall out of eighteen teams with individual placing for Sharon who won her section and Wendy who came equal fourth in hers. The senior open team also had a fantastic day which placed them third overall out of sixteen teams with individual placing for Lucy Crane who came second in her section novice 27 and Jane placed sixth in elementary 48.

The junior team also had excellent results coming third as a team and all team members placed individually, Lauren Hickman collecting second, Lyndsey Haddon claiming individual fourth and Lauren Woodhouse collecting a fifth.

I am sure you will all agree it was very successful day , so I would just like to say a huge thank you to all our team members for representing the club, all team members and horses looked fantastically smart and were a real credit to the club .

Also a huge thank you to the helpers for the day Bev Higgs who agreed to write for the judge who I am sure suffered with an aching hand for days after and Jenny Millman who already mentioned agreed to check the
flu vac certificates.

Louise

AREA 20 HUNTER CHALLENGE @ LLANYMYNECH
Lady luck seemed to have deserted the ESCR competitors taking part in Hunter Challenge at Llanymynech this autumn. This is a new competition where competitors jump a short show jumping course before proceeding directly to the cross country course section without a break. The day started with our ‘Fearless Fillies’ team tackling the senior open class with fences of up to 1metre.
Our path finder was the experienced combination of Tory Hammersley on Roli, they did an excellent job jumping double clear and finishing just under the optimum time for 3.2 time penalties. It was a real shame that they slipped over pulling up after the finish line they certainly did not deserve to finish such a good round on the floor! Luckily no harm seemed to be done.
Next out was Katie Hughes on Marble Arch a regular face on ESCR teams. They show jumped clear and set off well on the cross country, however this was their first outing since Windsor (as Katie spent the summer working in America) so lack of match practice contributed to their one stop on the cross country phase.  I’m sure this run will have set them up for next year.
Third away was Lynsey Chalmers on her powerful bay Swancote Countryman. They just knocked the last show jump down in their eagerness to start the cross country which they flew round in fine style. Unfortunately they added 12 time penalties for being too fast; I just hope Lynsey doesn’t have that many penalty points on her driving licence!
The final member of the team was Francis Small on her fiery little Carys Mai. Cas has been a real star this year with her second place at Royal Windsor and double clear at Area Horse trials. On this occasion she was a bit confused at having to go out on cross country directly from show jumping. They had a couple of uncharacteristic stops early on, but once Fran found the ‘cross country mode’ button then they flew home in their normal enthusiastic style.
Tory finished 8th individually which unfortunately was just out of the rosettes. The team too was just out of the places.
It was then on to the Novice classes where the jumps were up to 90cm although when walking the course many did not look much smaller than the open fences. We just had two individuals representing the club this time.
Sophie Holder was our junior representative riding Imaginative and representing ESCR for the first time in XC event. They  jumped a spectacular clear show jumping giving the fences lots of room, but had a couple of green stops early on the cross country before finishing strongly. Sophie had obviously done an excellent job with Imaginative fitness work as he wouldn’t have blown a candle out at the finish; the rider was the one out of breath.
Last but not least was Tanya Forbes on her eager grey Harry. Their warm up was rather rushed as they were at the end of the class which was running ahead of time added to which Tanya had to go back to box for her medical armband. They show jumped clear and Harry pricked his ears as they set off well on the cross country,  unfortunately they had a little ‘difference of opinion’ at fence 6 which led to Tanya parting company on the landing side of the fence. No harm done (apart from dented pride) they were soon reunited and finished the course well.
Jen

Area 20 Horse Trials @ Kelsall Hill 27th June.
The evening before the area 20 horse trials saw torrential down pours, but luckily the day dawned dry if some what grey and warm. The day didn’t start to well for poor Sam who got as far as Penkridge before realising the reason their car wasn’t running properly was that she had put petrol in and it is a diesel car! Chef d’equipe to the rescue and they were soon hitched up and en route for Kelsall again.
First off for ESRC were the senior novice ‘Angels’ team Wendy McGarry, Sam Davies, Catherine Starkey and Tanya Forbes. Their dressage scores were all reasonable and left us in touch, it was then on to the SJ where both Wendy and Sam jumped clear while Catherine and Tanya just had one down. They all then put up an excellent performances jumping clear cross country and just adding a few time penalties. Wendy had to ride strongly at the water complex to persuade Thomas to get his feet wet but her determination was rewarded with 3rd place in her section. Sam, Catherine and Tanya were just outside the individual places in their sections but the combined scores left the team in 5th place (out of over 20 teams) which was a great result. 
Emily Crane was our only junior representative this year. Floyd pulled a shoe off before their dressage, the blacksmith nailed it back on but this left her with very little time to warm up resulting in a disappointing dressage score.  However Emily held her nerve and Pink Floyd jumped clear SJ before flying round the XC in fine style to win the Junior intermediate class.
Finally it was the turn of the senior intermediate 'fearless fillies'; Lynsey Chalmers, Francis Small, and Tory Hamersley. All did reasonable dressage tests before moving on to the jumping phases. Lynsey and Francis were both (after a little persuasion from Chef d’equipe) tackling this intermediate class for the first time. They rose to the occasion with their super horses Swancote Countryman and Carys Mai to jump double clears and just add a few time penalties to their dressage scores which left them just out of the places. Tor our experienced intermediate representative had a minor hiccup early on the XC this time, but Roli jumped the rest of the course with ease.
Many thanks to Louise Green and Bev Higgs who spent a long day fence judging. Without people willing to volunteer as our ‘club helpers’ for the day our teams would not be able to participate.
Photos http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025765&id=1385953055&l=041365470e
Don’t forget to let me know if you want to enter or fence judge at the Area Cross country competition in October.
Jen

Area 20 Novice SJ @ Middlewich 21st June 09
The senior novice show jumping team remained the same for 2009 as in the previous year. This was Denise Billingham on Katie, Sara Harrison on Liffy, Frances Small on Cass and Bev Higgs with Zaffy. Having achieved 4th team place at Smallwood in last year’s qualifier, everyone was feeling confident and hopes were high.
All team members arrived safely at Stanthorne Park, a nice flat field with a good covering of grass and the weather was kind to us apart from a few spots of rain.
The show jumping course was full of twists and turns with potential for time faults.
I was first to go for our team. Zaffy seemed his usual bouncy self as we cantered towards the first jump. This was not to be our day and he put in a stop! After further stops at the double that was it for us and we got the big ‘E.’ (Pete Goalby made it all better though ‘cos he bought me an ice cream x )
Denise and Frances went on to jump two faultless clears which put them in the jump off. Both riders jumped really well to the cheers of our supporters and Frances was just out of the individual placings.
Sarah and Liffy jumped with impressive style with just one knock down.
Two teams finished on nought, the eventual winners being a team from Nantwich. Our team was one of four with just four faults to carry. The fastest times from the second round were then brought into play to decide who came 3rd to6th.
From a total of 19 teams, East Shropshire finished 3rd which was yet another great result for our club. Well done girls!
Thanks go out to our band of supporters, John, Maggie, Jerry, Pete and Lynne, with an extra special ‘thank you’ to Frances Hampton for being the judges’ writer for the day.
Bev Higgs.

Royal Windsor Horse Show Qualifier at Tushingham Arena 28th March 2009

Frances Small and Katie Hughes brought more success for ESRC in the qualifying rounds for this new competition to be held at Windsor on 14th and 15th May this year.
The competition took place at Tushingham arena near Whitchurch on a freezing cold Saturday, in the form of Top Score Show Jumping and Riding tests 6 and 7.
Frances rode Caris Mai in the novice jumping class and Katie rode Marble Arch in the intermediate, which gave riders one minute in which to jump as many fences as they could with the bigger fences incurring higher scores. (Rather like our ‘Accumulator’ class at our shows) A ‘Joker’ fence was include in both classes which if jumped clear awarded 200 points but if knocked down 200 points were deducted. Both girls took the risk and managed to clear this fence twice.
It proved to be a very exciting competition against some very skilful riders and horses from other Area 20 clubs, but both Katie and Frances achieved a brilliant 2nd place in their classes. We are hoping both girls will be invited to compete at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in May! Usually, only 1st placed riders get there but there is the possibility that some 2nd places will get there, so fingers crossed everybody!
Katie and Archie gave an elegant performance in both Riding Test 7 and Riding Test 6 to achieve 4th place in both classes. Well done Katie and Frances.

Photos of Frances - click to see large image

Photos of Katie - click to see large image

Senior Winter Dressage Qualifier at Maelor Equestrian Centre on 1st March 09

The senior team for the area 20 competition consisted of Katie Hughes riding Marble Arch, Margaret Thomas riding It's a Poppit (who was representing our club for the first time), Louise Ellis ridng Ebony and last but not least Victoria Hammesley riding Roli.

I would just like to start by saying a big thank you to all of the team memembers and Sue Bullock, who stepped in at the last minute as a helper, for making the long journey to Maelor Equestrian Centre near Wrexham.

It was a beautiful day and we were blessed mainly sunny conditions and good temperatures through out the hole day. There were a huge amount of entries for the competition 24 teams in all, more than expected which all in all made for quite a long day. Our team put in a sterling effort on the day which made for a truly commendable performace, Katie who was our first competitor came 4th in her section, so well done to her and Marble Arch.

All of the team members really looked fabously smart and they were a real credit to our club on the day. The team actually came equal 14th out of the 24 and the winning team overall was East Cheshire Combined Training Group. Once again many thanks to our memebers for coming forward and taking part and representing ESRC on the day.

Louise