2007 JUNIOR TEAMS ARCHIVE

2007: BRC National Championships
(l to r: Philippa & Max, Kim & Express Delivery, Liz & Caedylyne Step On)

2007 BRC National Championships - Lincoln

What a lovely way to end this season’s round of competitions with a visit to the BRC Championships. After all the rain during the summer what a relief to find that the weekend was dry and sunny (very different from the sea of mud we endured at Lincoln with the junior team 2 years previously).
Representing the Club were Kim Burton & Express Delivery, Philippa Jones & Max and Liz Spicer & Caedylyn Step On, who all qualified in August at West Littleton (together with Amelia Sheldon and Chess) for both the riding test and the novice dressage finals – so 2 tests to practice and learn for this occasion. All the girls and horses were beautifully turned out and did really well having to cope with the many distractions at a show of this size including frequent fly pasts by the red arrows! The competition was of a high standard and the girls we pleased to have achieved individual places of 12th/13th out of 25 - 30 other competitors in the riding test, and similarly in the dressage, giving an overall team result of 18th and 16th respectively.
Hannah, who was not competing due to her recent injuries, very kindly volunteered to help with stewarding at the competition; as a condition of entry, each team is required to provide a helper. She spent the morning with the veteran horse and pony classes – an interesting insight into how showing classes are judged!!
Thank you to Kim, Philippa and Liz for taking part and to their families who put a lot of effort into supporting their children at these events, and especially to Julie, who having broken down on route and waiting over 2 hours for the rescue service to fix the lorry, still continued on her journey arriving in Lincoln at 10.30pm, with Express Delivery clamouring to be let out! (I’m sure many of us would have turned round and gone straight home). Thank you to all of you and well done!
Cathy Browne

Area 18: Junior Riding Tests and Dressage

What a fantastic weekend for both the Junior and Senior teams! Despite the changes in date, a last minute change in venue, a new horse and a troubled horsebox, we were able to get 4 juniors together for the dressage and riding test area 18 qualifiers.
The team produced some excellent tests with many individual places, giving them a well deserved team 1st for the riding test competition, and 2nd place in the dressage. They went home with the knowledge that their win would assure them an invitation to the Championships in Lincoln on Sunday 9th September, but were surprised to receive confirmation from the BRC Office that their 2nd place in the novice dressage had also qualified them for the final.
Thank you to huge efforts put in parents of Amelia, Kim, Liz and Philippa who act as grooms, chauffeurs, sponsors and supporters for these events, as well as the hard work put in by the girls and their horses.
Good luck to both the junior and senior teams who will be travelling to Lincoln to represent the Club.
Cathy Brown

Area 18: Junior Equitation Jumping & Show Jumping

It was good to see so many juniors, both new and old members, at the recent Area 18 show jumping
competition held at Cleeve Prior on the 20th May. The first competition was the equitation show jumping (or style jumping as they have called it this year) and despite some of the ponies finding the fishy planks a little scary (or was it the riders?), and 2 of the team never having taken part in this type of competition before, they did
really well and the team finished in 3rd place.
Next was the excitement of the novice show jumping class and the girls were up against some stiff opposition form the host club, Cropthorne and Evesham, who had no less than 4 teams taking part! No prizes for guessing which club took 1st
place (and 2nd and 3rd I believe). All our team completed both rounds with Philippa and Amelia jumping double clears so going through to the jump off to decide individual placing. Unfortunately neither matched the speed of the leaders, but Amelia and Chess took 5th place, with the team in 6th place.
Kim Burton on Express Delivery and Liz Spicer on Caedelyn Step On competing for West Oxfordshire for the first time both took part as individuals, Kim in the open and Liz in the novice. Unfortunately neither was placed but hopefully they found the competition experience useful. Well done all of you!
Cathy Browne

Area 18: Junior Novice Indoor Show Jumping

Unfortunately not enough members came forward for this event in time for the close of preliminary entries in December, although since then several more juniors have asked to take part in future team competitions. If a few more would like to join in with the teams then we may be able to send 2 teams to the next event, just let me know if you are interested. Please return the Junior Team Application forms (included in Welcome packs) ASAP if you think you may want to take part in any of the team events. Then I can then check that your pony/horse's vaccinations are up to date.
Cathy Browne