British Championships
21st-22nd August 2004
Having arrived in a very wet Aberystwyth on Friday evening, we found a swimming pool for an outdoor arena!! We had a quick training session with Herbie in the main arena; he was very well behaved for his first competition. We then concentrated on polishing the ponies for an early morning vetting. The majority of the squad then went of to the campsite hoping they wouldn’t get washed away in the night! Whilst Julie, Liz, Lucy, Aska and myself settled down in a fairly damp lorry.
After some last minute platting and a photo shoot for the horses the vetting got underway.
This was even more nerve racking than normal as I was judging and therefore I was part of the vetting panel. It was very interesting to see this from the other point of view. Luckily everyone sailed through and the competition started on time.
Herbie was first in for EVS with Liz, Lucy and I and behaved beautifully. Tiny and Bowler followed with nine individuals in total. Everyone performed well providing a good base to work up from.
The afternoon brought the freestyles, again Herbie went first. He went very well until someone else cracked a whip just as Liz landed, launching her on to his neck! He was then an angel for Lucy, all in all very good for his first party. Well done Pony!
Everyone else pulled out all the stops performing some stunning moves. Although I was a little confused as Sarah R had borrowed Liz’s catsuit and her old music. Pippa had also borrowed old music and moves of hers, I thought I was seeing things.
The other highlight of the day was two fun pairs performed by Sara & Zoe and Sara & Steph. Both pairs produced beautiful routines to see off some tough opposition and claimed first and second place respectively. Well done girls.
That evening we joined in a barbecue to celebrate 25 years of Cader vaulters, who were hosting the championships. The girls also entertained with the dance they learnt at camp. Whilst Julie managed to arrange to get a flat tyre on the lorry fixed the next day. We don’t have much luck with lorries at the moment.
After another chilly night we prepared for day two. We were to vault on Herbie again but he was very tired from his exciting first day and spent all day lying down asleep. The junior individuals were first up on Bowler. Both Sara and Steph managed to mount off a very difficult surface and produced a good set of compulsories. They then ran in later with the other individuals to perform their freestyles beautifully.
Again all performed their freestyles well, with Lissy and Sarah R both recovering well from missed moves.
Jon put on a great freestyle to clinch the male title! Liz unfortunately lost her crown to a better performance on the day by Joey Eccles, finishing a close second. Lucy and I also slipped in a couple of places after a long season to finish fifth and fourth respectively.
Other special achievements go to Pippa and Suzi who after not being able to train for three months finished a very respectable 7th with 6.906 and 15th with 5.903. Also to Emzie for finishing her first individual competition in 10th place with 6.249. Tiny was honored with the best individual horse award for the first time.
A big thank you to Roland Boehlen for allowing me to sit with him and learn more about judging, also to Catherine Else for all her help. The biggest thank you of all to Andrew Williamson and Cader for organizing the championships so well.
Sarah WatsonSummary of Results
| Female Individual | |||||
| 1 | Joanne Eccles | ||||
| 2 | Liz Watson | ||||
| 3 | Ann Rogerson | ||||
| 4 | Sarah Watson | ||||
| 5 | Lucy Bell | ||||
| 6 | Pippa Capstick | ||||
| 7 | Lucy Philips | ||||
| 8 | Amy Panter | ||||
| 9 | Sarah Reid | ||||
| 10 | Emma Runge | ||||
| 11 | Alicia Taylor | ||||
| 12 | Victoria McLaren | ||||
| 13 | Ruth Morris | ||||
| 14 | Kirsty McWilliam | ||||
| 15 | Suzi Shortland | ||||
| 16 | Dawn Morley | ||||
| 17 | Lesley Cambell | ||||
| 18 | Lorna Cambell | ||||
| Male Individual | |||||
| 1 | Jon Blake | ||||
| 2 | Philip Beasley | ||||
| 3 | Ross Foreman | ||||
| 4 | Aled Pugh | ||||
| 5 | Jim Pate | ||||
| 6 | Laurance Chambers | ||||
| Advanced Team | |||||
| 1 | SEVT A | ||||
| 2 | SEVT B | ||||
| 3 | Shieldbank | ||||
| Intermediate Team | |||||
| 1 | Arrow | ||||
| Novice Team | |||||
| 1 | Eagles | ||||
| 2 | Cader | ||||
| Pre-Novice Team | |||||
| 1 | Eagles | ||||
| 2 | Perry | ||||
| 3 | Shieldbank | ||||
| Pairs | |||||
| 1 | Joanne Eccles & Hannah Eccles | ||||
| 2 | Liz Watson & Sarah Watson | ||||
| 3 | Lucy Philips & Louise Smith | ||||
| Junior Individual | |||||
| 1 | Hannah Eccles | ||||
| 2 | Imogen Canavan | ||||
| 3 | Georgia Canavan | ||||
| 4 | Zoë Wyatt | ||||
| 5 | Zoë Streatfield | ||||
| 6 | Sara Shortland | ||||
| 7 | Sarah Steele | ||||
| 8 | Naomi Wood | ||||
| 9 | Stephanie Hunter | ||||
| 10 | Catriona Laird | ||||
| 11 | Yasmin Williamson | ||||
| 12 | Lorin Farrelly | ||||
| Technical Test | |||||
| 1 | Jenny Croft | ||||
| Fun Walk Individual | |||||
| 1= | Kirsty Henry | ||||
| 1= | Sophie Venables | ||||
| 3 | Victoria Walker | ||||
| 4 | Chloe Arnott | ||||
| 5 | Hayley Hayhurst | ||||
| 6 | Sonyarisa Duckhouse | ||||
| 7 | Robyn Williamson | ||||
| 8 | Mared Owen | ||||
| Fun Pairs | |||||
| 1 | Sara Shortland & Zoë Winskell | ||||
| 2 | Sara Shortland & Stephanie Hunter | ||||
| 3 | Kirsty Henry & Grant MacDonald | ||||
| 4 | Eilidh Gibson & Jessica Kelly | ||||
| Fun Team | |||||
| 1 | Lauderdale/Wee County | ||||
| 2 | Eagles | ||||
| 3 | Lauderdale/Wee County | ||||
| 4 | Shieldbank | ||||
