REPORT
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Offchurch Championships |
3-5th August 2007 |
Offchurch Success
Sevenoaks Riding
Club’s teams were placed second in the Junior One Day Event and third in the Senior
Intermediate Two Day Event at the British Riding Clubs’ Horse Trials Championships
held between 3rd and 5th August at Offchurch Bury, Warwickshire
– in sun-shine!
On the first day of
the Championship twenty junior teams competed in dressage, show jumping and cross-country
at 2ft. 9in.
Khia Cadney-Moon,
riding La Gioa, took a strong lead with only 20.5 dressage penalties, had one fence down
show jumping and went clear cross-country with only 0.4 of a time fault to win her
section.
Emma Howard, riding Paddy, went clear in the show
jumping and was 15 seconds under the optimum time on the 450 meters per minute
cross-country phase. Her dressage score of 30.5 placed her third in her section.
Together with Alice Burgess, on Ludo, and
Rohan Cadney-Moon, riding Cracker, they were placed second out of twenty junior teams from
all over Britain – but not with out some ups and
downs.
Brought in
as a reserve because Vicki Lawrence wasn’t available for Offchurch, Rohan had a fall
from June’s Cracker in the show jumping section. She wasn’t injured but
didn’t realize that eventers, unlike show-jumpers, are allowed to remount; so she was
deemed to have retired.
Then it was announced that
Alice Burgess, whose score had to count for Sevenoaks, was eliminated cross-country
for jumping off the drop rather than going down the slope into the water. However when the
course had been open for walking the previous evening, it had been flagged as an optional
entry. The team entered a protest, which was
upheld. Luckily Lucy, in control, had told fence judges not to stop her on the course as
it was a technical elimination and needed to be confirmed by the course steward – she
had finished and been given a time, so it was possible to reinstate her and we had a team
again!
The Senior
Intermediate 3ft 3in.competition was run over two days, with dressage and show jumping on
day one and cross-country on the second.
Flooding (you may
have seen the pictures in “Rider Magazine taken just the week before) reduced the
usual long format to one section of roads and tracks but fortunately the River Leam went
down sufficiently to allow the water-jumps and fences on the far side of the river to be
included in the cross-country course.
Clare Bull, riding
Pat Nicholson’s Market Design, led her section after dressage and was clear show
jumping and cross-country but 8 time faults over the fast 490 mpm course dropped her to
second place, just one penalty behind the section winner.
Jo Thomas, riding
Kruja Roslyn, added only 0.8 of a time fault to a dressage score of 33.3 to come third in
her section; her best placing at a Championship.
Ever the optimist
she had brought a “celebration cake” just in case which was just as well as,
with Laura Reeves on Hedera Hat, and Eleanor Comer on Climate, the team came third out of
nineteen.
Laura had two down
show-jumping and a clear round cross-country with 9.2 time penalties and was tenth in her
section. Eleanor was lying fifth after dressage and 4 penalties show-jumping, but had a
run-out cross-country, when Climate, who was nursing a sore back, couldn’t be turned
sharply enough for an off-set double.
Sue French, who
qualified as an Intermediate individual, wondered if she would make it after all when
Rising Promise had to spend most of the week on box rest with a foot abscess. The shoe
went back just in time and she was sound but just a bit lively in her dressage test and
had two down show jumping. However Sue had a great clear round cross country and she
can’t wait to go again – perhaps in the open.
Jo Donaldson was our
lone representative in the Senior Novice. She had just one refusal show jumping when Ryan
seemed to be distracted by the movement of the video-camera above his head. They were
going well cross-country until what Jo called a little ditch, which was actually a very
impressive ditch up onto a bank followed by an off-set hedge. Ryan put on the brakes; Jo
didn’t! Even so she said that she’d really enjoyed her week-end.
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