© 2010 Cowdray Hunt Branch of the Pony Club
When I unexpectedly qualified for the novice championships I was over the moon. I called mum to let her know I had qualified (as mum couldn’t be with me at the Area).
On the 26th August 2010 Mum and Dad towed the trailer to take Poppy and I, 7 hours and 20 minutes, with stops on the way, to the Kelsall Equestrian Centre in Cheshire! We eventually got there at 5.30pm in the evening.
On the Friday morning I was so excited to go up to see Poppy, have a ride and explore the Kelsall Equestrian Centre that mum and I were up at the crack of dawn! When we got there all was very quiet with everyone still asleep in their tents/horse boxes. A majority of them had come from Ireland so they must have been very tired. After I had fed Poppy and mucked out, Poppy and I went off in search for somewhere to ride and work through my test…… for the millionth time!! The Irish team from Antrim had mounted up by this time and I rode with them to the Event Village. In the warming up area which was on quite a hill, the grass was up to Poppy’s knee’s making it quite hard to run through my test, so I cantered up the hill a couple of times to get Poppy’s back more supple, (that’s what I told mum anyway!). We hacked back and put her back in the stable. Later on in the afternoon I went back down to the Event Village to collect my number for the next day and rode again, this time I rode with the welsh teams, running through my test again and again. Then it was back to the stables to give Poppy a tail and sock wash!
On the Saturday I was on doing my test at 9.33am. So it was up at 6.30am, leaving the Premiere inn at 7.00am. Dad not impressed on missing out on his fried breakfast! Mum was plaiting and me… worrying about the test and nosing around the warm up area looking at my competition. I then got on at 8.55 to warm up, dad seemed quite impressed with all the competitors saying I like that one, which wasn’t me, thanks dad!
It was then my turn, full with nerves I went into my arena. I did my test that was a huge success. Poppy did everything I asked and more. I looked at my score and I achieved 177/270, which was my best score to date and pretty good as I was only 6 points away from the winner with only a third of the class to finish. At the end of the class I found out that I was drawing for tenth place, which was very nail biting. Would I get a rosette or not? It turned out that 2010 was not my turn for a tenth place rosette as a girl of 14yrs beat us by one point on collectives, so very disappointing. But all the competitors did receive a memorative plaque, so I did have something to bring home to keep as a reminder of my great day.
I learnt a lot from the whole experience and it will be a fabulous weekend to remember for years to come. It was a lovely astmosphere and I would like to thank my mum and dad for taking Poppy and I to Cheshire and also to Kim Clinch who took Poppy and I to the Area, I couldn’t have done it without you! X
Beverly Voller
Pony Club Novice Champs 2010
Kelsall Equestrian Centre, Cheshire
