We are the Champions!!!!
Well some members of WRC are anyway! On one of the hottest days of the year WRC were on fire, with 4 out of the 5 teams being crowned Area champions at the Area Horse Trials held at a new venue, Bicton arena.
The Junior Novice and Senior Intermediate teams are off to Aston le Walls for the National Championships, having won their Area qualifiers. In the Junior team, Roxanne Marquardt was also placed 7th individually and Steph Munday did a great job in her first competition with her horse Pagan. Other team members Imogen Gale and Alexa Batting started well with very good dressage and show jumping but a couple of stops cross country dropped them down the placings individually, however by completing this gave the team a great win.
Early in the day the Novice senior teams had also competed, the day didn't start well when poor Cheryls horse arrived with only 3 shoes and was unable to compete. However, things improved for her team mates Emma and Hayley Gale who both had a good day, Emma finishing 3rd individually. The 4 th team member Shelley Pocock and our club star Fat Boy Slim didn't have as good a time when Boysie took exception to one of the cross country fences. He is still a star though within the club and is forgiven for a blip in his long career as part of WRC teams.
Things did go well though for the other Novice team, with Lucy Ball, Ginnie Cronk and Lisa Manley putting up strong performances in all 3 phases and Cheryl completing on her young horse who had been substituted into the team from the smaller class. Their individual performances were excellent with very good dressage scores and solid jumping - Lucy came 2nd , Lisa 3rd and Ginnie 9th individually and this resulted in another team win, as the team was competing as a non qualifier though they won't get the chance to go to the National championships but can call themselves Area Champions!
The restricted Novice team gave us our 3rd surprise win of the day!!!! Ruth Ferguson, Mary Paxton, Helen Goff and Hazel Grundy were stunned to be announced the winners but having had some good dressage marks, mixed fortunes in the show jumping and 3 clear round cross country their win was well deserved. It took some good old WRC courage for Mary and Hazel to set off cross country having not had the best of times in the show jumping but it paid off when they enjoyed clear rounds, Hazel beaming from ear to ear as she crossed the finish line and Mary proclaiming "I'm still alive, thank god!" Poor Mary had twisted her ankle earlier in the day walking along(!) and as she has only been riding her new horse Bob for a couple of months her ride was even more courageous. Club chairman Helen was under pressure to do a good job and luckily Sula didn't let the side down, it was shame she insisted on going at racehorse speed all the way round and accrued a few time faults for going too fast but never mind everyone had finished and were fit and well, if not a bit hot and bothered.
We didn't think our luck would hold until the end of the day but double clears from Stella Cronk, Sian Brown and Emily Wotton in the Intermediate team clinched another win and trip to the Nationals! Very good dressage scores also left Emily 3rd and Sian 5th individually with Stella not far behind. 4th team member Caroline Lowes had an unfortunate "senior moment" on the cross country course which meant her score didn't count – luckily this didn't affect the overall score and the club were able to celebrate their 4th win of the day.
Rupert Batting also did really well, finishing 2nd on his dressage score of 32.1 in the Junior Intermediate as an individual. He missed out on winning by 0.5 and we are hopeful that he may also have qualified for the championships.
It is so difficult for anyone to get all 3 phases right on the same day at these events and so for WRC to come away with so many team wins and individual placings is a credit to everyone involved – what a day! Many thanks to all team members and also to all our helpers, Ros and Tom Fisher-Smith, Claire Sexton, Emma Wright, Cat (one of Cheryls "grooms" whow kindly stepped in on the day when helpers from other clubs didn't appear), Sally Watts, Alf and Hayley Broadhead, Kiersten Friday, Gil Bolt, Karen Snow, Kathy Manning, Sarah Midwinter, Hilary Turner, Suzanne Willcox and Heidi Bates, all of whom gave up their day to fence judge, dressage write or be part of the start team. Needless to say, without all these helpers we would not have been able to compete and come away with so many rosettes so many, many thanks from all of the riders.
Area 12 Dressage and Show jumping - Taunton Racecourse 12th/13th June
Well what a busy and successful couple of days for our team members, some of whom competed on both days. Thank you to them all for representing WRC so well and for bringing home so many rosettes ...... Many thanks also to Bridget Grieve, Sally Braden and Chanelle White for helping with the dressage and the Sunday gang for helping to pack away the jumps at the end of a long day.
The Open dressage team of Emily Wotton, Sian Brown, Stella Cronk and Karen Hawkes did brilliantly, coming 2nd overall but winning the qualifier for the National Championships to be held at Lincoln Showground in September. Individually Karen won the Elementary qualifier, Emily was 3rd in Novice 24, Sian 4th in Novice 28 and Stella 8th in Novice 30. The Novice team all put up solid performanaces but the standard was high and so missed out on a team place though Ruth was 6th in her arena. Stella Cronk and Floyd won the Prelim warm up class and Helen Goff was 4th despite Sula reverting to racehorse mode in her canter - well she was on a racecourse!
The style jumping team of Emily Wotton, Ruth Ferguson, Tamsin O'Connor and Emma Gale were also 2nd, just missing out on qualifying! However, Emily qualified as an individual in 3rd and Ruth was only a few marks behind in 6th.
On Sunday, our Rural Riders team qualified for Lincoln as well, unfortunately they were the only team competing but scored a very respectable 64%. This was a classic case of teamwork as poor Carol Hayes managed to end up in plaster the week before so Mari Holton kindly stepped in to fill her space. The Novice show jumping team all started well, with a score of 0 in the first round, however, round 2 was less successful so they missed out on any rosettes this time. However, our run of seconditis continued with our Intermediate Show jumpng team. Again team members Emily Wotton, Sian Brown, Emma Gale and Stella Cronk all jumped very well, just being pipped in the jump off. However, Stella and her home bred mare Top of the Pops did really well to qualify individually - finishing off a very successful weekend on a high!
Many thanks to Carol for organising all the teams and to everyone that entered and maintained the WRC team spirit through it all!!
Exmoor Sponsored Ride
ON A BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY SPRING MORNING I SET OF WITH MY GANG OF THIRTEEN, UNLUCKY FOR SOME I HEAR YOU SAY? IT WAS FOR SHELLEY , AS FRED HAD LOST A SHOE ON ROUTE IN THE TRAILER, WE'D TAPED HIS FOOT UP IN THE HOPE OF PROTECTING IT, BUT THE FIRST STONEY TRACK WAS MORE THAN HE COULD COPE WITH, SO THEY HAD TO TURNED BACK. LEAVING THE DARING DOZEN, FOUR ADULTS LOOKING AFTER EIGHT CHILDREN – TOTAL MADNESS………. ALL WENT WELL UNTIL THE LITTLE COOK SISTERS DESCIDED TO BOTH THROW THEMSELVES OFF THEIR PONIES ON THE MIDDLE OF EXMOOR , AT THE SAME TIME! THE CRONK'S TURNED UP JUST IN TIME TO HELP THE CLEAR UP OPERATION, AND REINSTATED THEM BACK ON TO THEIR PONIES. WE DESCIDED THEN THAT THE BEST POLICY WOULD BE TO LEAD THEM, RATHER THAN CHANCE LOOSING THE PONIES ON THE VAST EXPANSE OF THE MOOR. BY THIS TIME WE WERE ALL A LITTLE OVER-HEATED, SO THE REFRESHMENTS SUPPLIED BY JENNY AND HER TEAM WERE MOST WELCOME. WE SURVIVED SADDLE'S SLIDING FORWARD, TEAMWORK OPENING AND CLOSING GATES, POSING FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE FABULOUS VEIWS, TO ARRIVE SAFELY BACK THREE AND HALF AN HOURS LATER. THE GANG HAD THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THEMSELVES, I WAS MENTALLY EXHAUSTED, BUT THEY ALL SAID THE WANT TO DO IT AGAIN, BUT I THINK I'LL NEED A YEAR TO RECOVER!
THANKS TO CAROL AND HER VERY EFFICIENT TEAM WHO LOOKED AFTER ALL OF US SO WELL. ALSO FOR BEING ABLE TO BOOK THE HOTTEST POSSIBLE DAY ON EXMOOR. Cheryl Mundy
See some photos below, for all the photos see www.totalleigh.co.uk
Viv and Andy Pulsford and friends !!
Area Hunter Trial - Bickenhall near Taunton 
A team of 6 WRC members competed at this event on 24th April and came home with 6 rosettes. Unfortunately, team manager Karen Snow was the only one to come home empty handed as she had a crashing fall in the Open (pictured left) but though concussed is now fine and her horse was unhurt. The Novice team of Heidi Bates, Sam Webber, Tamsin O'Connor and Jayne Charley-Marquardt came 5th, with Jayne and her smashing little chap Flight (pictured right) 7th individually.
Emily Wotton flew the flag in the open , finishing 6th individually with Bay City Roller. Many thanks to all riders and especailly Karen who took on the team manager role for the first time, hopefully her fall will not have put her off for next year. A special thank you to all our members who fence judged and helped ensure the day ran smoothly.
Members Only Easter Dressage
It was great to see lots of members coming out of winter hibernation for this annual dressage competition held at Downe Farm and Newlands Lodge. We are hugely indebted to the Cheffings family and Mr and Mrs Bradford for allowing us to invade their yards on Easter Sunday yet again. Also, to Cheryl Mundy, Shelley Pocock, Emma Wright and Lin Sherwood for running the day so superbly and to our judges and writers, Sian Collins, Rowena Ball, Vanessa Cheffings, Hermione Perry, Irene Perrett and Chanelle White. The full results are on the Downloads page. Particular mention to Imogen Gale who did two lovely tests to be placed 1st and 2nd and qualify for the local Dressage Championships, following in Mum Tanya's hoofprints, as she qualified last year. Also, to Ruth Ferguson, a fairly new member who also scored well over 70% to qualify as well. Well done to everyone and we hope you enjoyed the Easter eggs!
Dressage at Wellbeck 14th March 2010
Sunny weather and smiling faces .... what a treat! Club members and a few members from other local clubs really enjoyed a good day of dressage and competition at this excellent venue. It was good to see some new faces doing well, particularly Pauline Sandland (pictured) who had the biggest smile of the day, having won Class 1A and also doing all the canter movements in Class 2, an achievement as Topaz struggled to canter at all six months ago.
Cheryl Mundy also had a good day with both Fat Boy Slim and Hoe Punchinello winning a Preliminary class each, Punch redeeming himself after a "naughty" first test to win the West Somerset Region Championships qualifier. The Novice winners were Sallly Watts and Mandy Page, both with scores of over 70%.
Many thanks to Jenny Lloyd and Suzanne Willcox for organising and running the day, to our judges Sian Collins and Julie Green and to the team at Wellbeck for making us welcome.
Area 12 Dressage Qualifier - Pontispool
This took place on 21st February and Witheridge took 2 teams, the Foxtrotters came 3rd overall and the Quicksteppers 9th. Individually, Cheryl Mundy and Fat Boy Slim won the Prelim warm up class and Alison Jones and Cookie won the Prelim qualifier.
Novice level competitors Lucy Ball, Alison Jones, Caroline Lowes and Karen Hawkes were all well placed and Karen was also 3rd in the Elementary class for individuals.
Well done to all our team members.
IN AID OF 'CHILDREN IN NEED' HELD AT 'THE HAND', BRISTOL
Oh what a day! They say showbiz doesn't run smoothly and we should have known better it being Friday 13th.
Well the day started well, the team all arrived safely and we were all dressed and on our horses in plenty of time to perform our quadrille for the competition. However things started to go wrong once the organsiers told us we were to be filmed and appear live on BBC Points West. This was our chance for fame and fortune (not!). We had to wait for the cue to start and it felt like ages. By the time we started the anticipation had got to all the horses but particularly Lofty and Jasper. Dear Jasper performed some lovely airs above the ground but this wasn't part of the routine and Carol did brilliantly to stay onboard especially wearing her hat. So, unfortunately, though it was entertaining in its own way it wasn't quite the calm performance the judges were looking for so the team failed to qualify for the gala performance in the evening.
Luckily, as we were bringing so many club supporters to the evening, the organizers had given the team a wild card into the evening performance plus they really appreciated all the efforts which had gone into the costumes, make up and music (another HUGE thank you to Rosanne, Jill, Denis, Jenny, Glenys, Alf, Emz and Claire – our behind the scenes crew). The only condition was that Jaspers extra moves were testing their Health and Safety risk assessment so we had 3 choices, perform as a team of 3, have Carol running around on foot or find a replacement horse! As the team didn't want to let everyone down that had bought tickets and travelled through such awful weather to come and watch, the Longpark Emergency Team was called upon. Poor Shelley Pocock was persuaded not to go home to her husband and sons after work but instead to borrow a trailer from Jane Munday and drag dear Fat Boy Slim (Riding Club superstar and award winner – see AGM report) out of his stable and whiz him up the motorway. Luckily they arrived with just enough time to bath and dress Boysie and prepare him for his first ever Quadrille experience with a strange jockey, even more strange as she was wearing the full Priscilla costume.
All the effort was worthwhile though as the team gave one of their best performances, the crowd loved it but couldn't believe we hadn't qualified in the morning competition … if only they knew!!!
Roll on 2010, we have learnt a lot and will do even better!! Cheryl Mundy
The whole day was very interesting and enjoyable as not only was our Quadrille team performing but we got to watch over 30 dressage to music performances in the lovely indoor arena at The Hand. Most riders were in fancy dress and there were some stunning performances. The evening gala saw the top 12 from the day compete again and the worthy winner was Lucinda McAlpine from Cullompton with her Inspector Gadget themed performance. The runner up was a beautiful grey ridden by a lady dressed as Evita, a very different performance but equally stunning. If you are into dressage to music, this will be an event to go to in 2010 as it is a really good day out and raises money for a very good cause. Ed.
There are some more great photos on www.hamishmitchellsports.com
Date Published December 2010
Imogen Gale, Louise Kittow, Grace Holton and Stephanie Munday (competing her horse Flossie for the first time.)
They all fared well in the first round with Louise and Steph getting clear rounds, Imogen and Grace having only one jump down. The second round was quite a bit bigger, with a lot of related distances and dog legged turns. Imogen, Grace and Steph didn't fare so well second time round. However Louise went clear for a second time, which meant she went into the jump off for individual placings and came a credible fourth overall. The team came 6th in the qualifying competition. Thank you to the backup crew of mums who braved the wind and rain, also to Alexa batting, our reserve.
Cheryl
Date Published December 2009
