Our jumping team has continued growing and picking up momentum these past few months, with 9 of our amazing members representing us at the 2019 Winter SJ qualifiers this January. This time round, the team was made up as follows:
80cm Senior Team Tayla Lawes & Blackts Remona Milly Jones & Mill Nuez Marianne Rabanal & Neon-B1 Jane Newens & Der Silber Prinz
80cm Junior Individual Georgia Hughes & Fergal
90cm Senior Team Tina Karris & CVS Dixie Chick Helen Nicolls & Angelo of Dalwhinnie Kate Bouchier & Dexter's Calico Joe Danni Rutter & Evie
Our 90cm Senior Individual, Lynn Hitchcox & Timeline were missed by the team today, as due to an unfortunate fall in training she has broken her arm - we're wishing her a speedy recovery!
We're always so proud of our riders and today was no exception. With a rocky start to the day which led to the Team Manager, Sarah Legg, nearly tearing her hair out(!) our riders went out and really gave it their all. 2 of our riders couldn't compete due to vaccination record issues, but our 80cm Junior Individual, Georgia, jumped a lovely clear HC in her 80cm class. It was her first SJ competition and her and Fergal really rocked it!
The day was running so quickly that our first 2 80cm Seniors missed their slots! But we managed to get them on later in the class, and although it wasn't their day (3 refusals for Marianne and Neon-B1 and an unlucky fall for Jane Newens from Der Silber Prinz) we're still super proud of them both and can't wait to see them back out on course! With 2 eliminations our 80cm Senior Team was unfortunately eliminated.
Our final 80cm Senior, Milly Jones, went clear in her first round and had an unlucky pole in her second round. So she and Mill Nuez did not get placed or qualify for nationals, but we believe they came 11th individually of about 62 riders! Needless to say, we're very impressed!!!
In a run of bad luck, and following on from Lynn's fall last weekend, another of our 90cm Seniors (Danni) had a fall on course at the qualifiers. She was taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle, but luckily got away with swelling and bruising. Wishing you a speedy recovery Danni!
The rest of the 90cm Seniors had a few unlucky poles but jumped lovely rounds, placing the team 9th out of 15 teams!!!!
It's important to note, that the main aim for our teams is to go out and have fun! And we can certainly say that our team does that in abundance - with lots of feedback from new members of the team on the team spirit shown at these qualifiers, but more on that in our next team post (keep an eye out!)
The day at Keysoe was forecast to be cold and overcast, but dry. At the last 2 qualifiers (FOTH Eventer Challenge and Arena Eventing) the weather has not been with us, either raining all day or for the one hour our helpers were doing their jobs. Luckily the weather was with us for the day and it stayed dry for us.
One of the most important roles at all Area Qualifiers is that of our helpers. Without them our teams wouldn't be able to compete. It's a really great way of getting involved and being a part of the action, without the pressure of competing! As our teams are still very new, we always struggle to find enough helpers to fill our club's slots (all clubs have to provide a certain number of helpers per team or individual representing the club) - and with our team growing and getting bigger and bigger, you can imagine that finding enough helpers is getting harder and harder!
The club's helpers for the day were fellow team member (non-competing today) Poppy Read and partner, as well as Stewart Weller (Non-Member), with Team Member Marianne Rabanal stepping in at last minute and with another non-competing team member, Lauren Hewett, on standby as back up if needed. They all did a fantastic job and we really can't thank them enough - as without them, our teams wouldn't have been allowed to compete. And special shout out to Poppy, who was meeting some of the team for the first time and was on hand to help with Danni's fall!
Next up? Winter Dressage at Keysoe on 16th February. Entries for this have already closed. FOTH Combined Training at Grange Farm EC on 7th April. More details for this to follow.
If you're interested in joining the jumping or dressage teams for future events, please contact one of the team managers (Sarah Legg for jumping, Gill Benwell for Dressage) or email us at info@aspleyguiseridingclub.com
We're always happy to see our teams grow, Senior or Junior! And we'd really love to hear from some more Juniors who would be interested in representing our club at Area Qualifiers and Nationals.