BRC Area 9 Show jumping qualifier Jan 30th and 31st 2016
WGRC put forward four teams to the B&W Equine Vets Novice and Treehouse intermediate show jumping qualifier, hosted by Frampton Family RC at Summerhouse EC in Glocucester.
The competition was scheduled over two days, the Saturday saw the 95cms junior and senior teams compete. Johnathan Bowman, Team trainer was on hand to walk the course and warm up the competitors. The first to jump were the Junior riders, and with only three riders in the team the pressure was on. The team consisted of Abbie Robins on her young spotted horse Adrian the Second, Abbie Ellison on Miss Meckenheim Megan and Stephie Cresswell on borrowed horse, Llanbabo Liberty. The first round saw both Abbie’s come through with four faults; Abbie Robins with an unfortunate pole, and Abbie Ellison with an unlucky stop due to the shadows being cast by the bright sunshine, plus a few time faults each. The course builder had built a tough and tightly timed course, and the faults were coming. Stephie and Liberty did not fair quite as well, with Liberty being tested to her limits over a course bigger than she had experienced before. After she had over jumped a parallel, Liberty lacked the confidence to take on a large double, and although Stephie pushed her through, she hung up her horse shoes a few fences later. Although the two Abbie’s were out of team positions, both jumped again in the second round set at 1m, both with just one down each.
Our senior team jumped next, Jo Bryne on Chambers Quest, Tara Plaister on Allsorts II, Lottie Parkin on Smartie Party and Hollie Cowley on borrowed ride, My Friends Jackson. Prompted by Johnathan on the time, all sailed round all within the time, but all having one fence down, except Allsorts who went clear, showing her long term team experience. With the second round set at 1m and the shadows causing issues against the fence on the side of the arena, the faults were coming fast to all the teams. Jo and Chambers Quest, unfortunately fell fowl to these shadows, but finished on 4 faults. Tara and Allsorts were next to jump, and after having the first fence down, flew round clear. Lottie and Smartie followed, but with two stops at fence two, a large parallel, Smartie ran out of steam coming out of the double, resulting in elimination. Last to jump was Hollie on her scratch ride, the pair did an excellent job considering their short time together, but got caught out by the first fence. The team ended up on a final score of 20 faults, resulting in a placing of 6th, and an individual 5th place for Tara and Allsorts out of over 60 horses. The VWH RC won the class on 11 faults.

The Sunday saw our Novice riders compete in the 80cms, we put forward two teams, Team Merlot – Kirsty Freeth on Tiddler, Tara Plaister on I Win van Orshof, Wendy Lappingdon on Loxley Monkey and Jo Byrne on Peters Top Jock, and Team Claret – Heather Muir on Puissance Dream, Stephanie Swadden on Pink House Lady, Kate Livermore on Kinsky Dollar AR and Rebecca White on The Irish Knight. Team Merlot started well, Kirsty, Tara and Jo jumped clear, although Kirsty was just off the pace getting two time faults, and Wendy was the drop score with just one down. Team Claret , our “development team”, finished round one on 20 faults with a few novice errors, but a great clear from Kate and Dollar. Round two set at 85cms, saw some uncharacteristic errors from Team Merlot, with fences down from all except Kirsty and Tiddler who jumped clear inside the time. Team Claret stepped up and although Stephanie and Pink House Lady ran out of steam, the others all jumped well. It was The Irish Knight’s first ever competition, and Rebecca rode him well to improve the quality of their round, although a few fences still fell. Kate had an unlucky pole, and Heather also improved their first performance to just have one down. The winning team was Berkley Red on zero faults, with WGRC Merlot just outside the placings with 18 faults, and WGRC Claret finishing on 50 faults. Johnathan, team trainer commented “I was really pleased with the attitude and the way all the riders conducted themselves, we are in the process of re-developing the teams, as we have lost three of the horses from last year’s Championship winning team. All the riders and horses have great potential for teams going forward, they just need to work hard and focus on the goals going forward. I have great confidence in their abilities, and we already have a structure in place for the Summer qualifiers.