Houghton & Huntingdon Riding Club Newsletter September 2015

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1 Hello All - almost the end of a beautiful summer, heading into Burghley week and the start of my favourite time of the year Autumn. I hope all of you have enjoyed your summer with your horses following your own particular disciplines whether it's Championships, Qualifiers, Water Play, Training, etc. or just good old fashioned relaxed hacking!! Or all of these!!! Speaking on behalf of the committee, we feel that a great deal of progress has been made with the re-vamped club now based at Houghton Hall and the wonderful facilities that are on offer. We still use our other great venue, Home Farm at Alconbury for training and, of course, we have our BIG event and fund raiser, The Hunter Trial, being held there on 11th October. Our members did exceptionally well at all Qualifiers and we have several going to National Championships. Enjoy and good luck to you all! That said, and we now come to the big BUT... we have not made a lot of progress with the support we need from all of you, the members, in putting yourselves forward for helping at events, offering to carry the club forward in the coming year by being on the committee, giving us ideas and feedback of what you would all like to see happen with your club, etc. We have the four "Golden Oldies" who came out of retirement for a year to help the club re-establish itself retiring yet again in October. We have our current stalwart Treasurer preferring to relinquish the reins but with no-one prepared to take them from her. So, I would like you ALL to consider tightening your girths, shortening your stirrups, getting your bums in the saddle and picking up the reins into a contact to keep the Club moving forward. We need positive aids to keep the club working in a relaxed, but collected, on the bridle contact and listening to the appropriate leg aids! That way we will get the high percentages we are trying to achieve for the club! Cheers...Anne Palmer, Chairman

2 Date Event Venue Cost Type Contact Mon-21-Sept Morning Flatwork outside with Tara Osborn Houghton Hall Training Book online Sat-26-Sept Jane Dawson Flatwork and Polework, 3pm Home Farm, Alconbury Training Book online Mon-28-Sept Morning Flatwork with dressed arenas, Tara Osborn Houghton Hall Training Book online Sat-3-Oct Cross Country Training Home Farm, Alconbury Training Sarah Anderson Sun-11-Oct HHRC Hunter Trial Home Farm, Alconbury TBC Competition Katherine Short Fri-16-Oct Club AGM Houghton Hall FREE Social Anne Palmer Fri-4-Dec Awards evening & Quiz Night with meal Houghton Hall Social Anne Palmer Sat-19-Dec Show Jumping 1 free round for members at HH event Houghton Hall FREE Competition Houghton Hall Exciting news! Lincoln Championships do not clash with Burghley in 2016 and, as if that is not exciting enough, the Novice Winter Dressage Championships are being held right on our doorstep at Keysoe rather than at Hartpury. All we need now is a Dressage Chef.. Date Event Venue Cost Type Contact 9 th /10 th April Novice Winter Dressage Champs Keysoe EC TBC Champs Dressage Chef 30 th April / 1 st May Intermediate Champs Bury Farm Equestrian TBC Champs Dressage Chef 28 th /29 th May Festival of the Horse Aston-Le-Walls TBC Champs HT Chef 19 th June Horse Trials Qualifier Keysoe EC TBC Qualifier HT Chef 5 th to 7 th August Horse Trials Swalcliffe TBC Champs HT Chef 10 th / 11 th September National Champs Lincoln Showground TBC Champs SJ / Dressage Chef Keep an eye on the website, Facebook and club s for details of up-coming training. If there is anything in particular you would like to see on the training programme or any particular trainers you would like us to use then please do let us know huntingdondrc@gmail.com.

3 Water Play Wittering Grange by Sarah Marshall Everyone had a super time at Water Play. It was a hot day and both riders and horses enjoyed getting splashed. We started off through a little lake to get the horses going in and out. After going through different pieces of water, Louise set up some courses which we all went through at whatever speed we pleased depending on how wet we were willing to get! We finished by taking the horses through a running stream. Everyone was there for a different reason, and we all got a lot out of it. My horse has recently come back into work and I thought it would be something fun, different and relaxed to do which is exactly what it was! By the end of the session, my horse was cantering confidently through the terrain and had gained confidence in open spaces with other horses. And Louise did a fantastic job keeping a group of excited horses and riders under control whilst enabling everyone to have fun. It was a great day meeting other members, and a huge thankyou to Louise for instructing us so magnificently and Clare Day for organising the event and being co-pilot to Louise. Looking forward to the next one!

4 As you will no doubt have seen, the Hunter Trail is all booked for 11 th October. Katherine and her team are busy getting all the plans in place and we are keeping fingers crossed for perfect cross country weather. The Hunter Trial is the biggest money earner for the club and funds subsidised training, qualifier entries and championship entries so we really do need to all get behind this event and help make it a success. Please, please, please get in touch with what you can do to help we need scorers, gate stewards, fence judges, Show Jump steward, SJ pole pickers. Right now we only have 5 volunteers. Even if you can only give 2 hours it would be fantastic. Fence judging is good fun you don t need to be experienced or even know much about the discipline. Full briefing will be provided as will lunch and a bottle of something as a thank you. If you are not sure if you would like to do it then please do give me a ring and I will happily talk you through what is involved Judith Hunter Trial Entries This year you can enter online or via Sam who is our Secretary for the event. See the website for details of the classes etc. Don t forget that our membership year runs from October so do get your renewals in prior to the event so that you can benefit from the reduced entry fee and also be in with a chance of winning Best Member. Cross Country Training Sarah Anderson has arranged cross country training for Saturday 3 rd October for anyone that would like a session before the Hunter Trial. Groups of 4, for 1 hour 15 minutes. 20 per person. Contact Sarah to book in on

5 The Juniors (Emily Bye, Ellie Sayer, Chloe Rutherford, Georgie Sutton, Phoebe Crawford), team Chef Sarah and team volunteer Judith, were all up early out of bed ready for an early start to Lincoln. Why is it you always get the early times when you haven t booked a stable! With half the team already on the road, Sarah received a panic call to say one of the horses had pulled a shoe getting on the trailer. As it was still only 6.00am in the morning, getting a farrier to the yard was unlikely so Team Chef Sarah took great delight in waking David Clarke who was Area 7 rep at the show for the weekend to see if there was a farrier on site. Luckily there was and after an anxious wait and some frantic juggling of times the shoe was successfully replaced and the team were ready to go. With the shoe successfully replaced the team took to the arenas to strut their stuff in Dressage and show off their style in the Jumping. The girls all did fantastically with great results. The riding test team came overall 6 th with individual 1 st for Chloe, 13 th for Phoebe, 9 th for Emily and 5 th for Ellie, Chloe also had an individual 10 th and Emily and individual 8 th. Style Jumping was a huge class but all the girls did really well with the team coming 22 nd overall.

6 The Show Jumping qualifiers were hosted by Cambridge & District Riding club and held at Earith. We had Junior, Senior and Grassroots teams competing in Show Jumping and Style Jumping. The weather was kind to us and the event was well attended by members either riding or helping. We had 34 entries from our club the most of any of the clubs. Junior Novice team (Ellie, Phoebe, Emily & Georgie) came 2 nd with an individual 5 th for Phoebe. The Junior team scooped 1 st in Style Jumping and qualified for Lincoln. Senior Intermediate saw an individual 2 nd for Sam Morgan Senior Novice Clubs (Sarah Grout, Katie Grout, Penny Hipwell, Alison Brock) were unplaced but Sarah achieved an individual 4 th. Senior Novice Spades (Alison Jones, Sarah Anderson, Sam Morgan, Olivia Mejias) came 6 th with an individual 2 nd for Sarah Senior Style Diamonds (Sam, Alison, Sarah A, Katie L) claimed 2 nd with an individual 2 nd for Katie, 3 rd for Sam and 5 th for Alison. Our other style team, Hearts (Karen Neal, Sam, Rebecca, Penny) just missed out on being placed Senior Open team claimed 1 st and qualified for Lincoln. Well done to Sam Morgan, Katie Larman and Nikki Goldup Grassroots team also claimed 1 st. Congratulations to Karen Neal, Sam Morgan, Cathryn Pratt and Sarah Anderson Cathryn Pratt Grassroots Team Winner

7 We have had a brilliant year this competition year, with some 124 class entries in the 2 Riding Club Dressage Qualifiers this year! We have a large group of Dressage riders from Grass roots riders competing Walk & Trot Tests to the more experienced (and usually more stressed!) Medium Riders. We always give the other Clubs in the Area a good run for their money, and nearly always secure places at the National Championships. We sent riders to the Intermediate Champs, the Novice Champs, and also Lincoln this year and had some fabulous results for both Individuals and Teams. All of the results of the Winter and Intermediate Champs have been published, and the Summer Champs at Lincoln results are as below: Clare Day E45 Placed, Katie Larman N30 6 th and Zoe Jones M61 2 nd Junior RT Team 6 th - with Ellie Sayer (indl 5 th ), Emily Bye (Indl 9 th ), Pheobe Crawford (Indl 13 th ) and Chloe Rutherford (Indl 1 st ) Junior Dressage Indls Emily Bye 8 th, Chloe Rutherford 10 th Some brilliant results consider there are hundreds of riders at this event and we also had a great showing in the SJ and other Qualifiers during this year. Well done not only to those who competed at the Champs, but those who compete at the Qualifiers (and those who enter but, through no fault of their own, can t make it on the day). I also want to say a massive thank you to all of you who volunteer to help. I absolutely could not support the team as I do without your help. I realise that some of you are pressganged in order to make up the numbers, and I am sure I have said this before to all of you however THANK YOU for your support. I am nearly at the end of my year-long notice period, so this will be my last Newsletter as your Club Dressage Chef. I have managed the Dressage Teams for some years now, and it is time for a fresh set of eyes to take on this role and bring some fresh enthusiasm to the role. Also, for those who know me, you will know that my better half has gone back to Water-ski Racing this year and therefore competes, I have stepchildren and grandchildren, and I am ready to take on the very important role of Auntie at the end of the year too ! They all keep me too busy to focus my attention as much as I should.

8 As a Club we have been trying to recruit a new Team Chef for the Dressage Teams since I handed in my notice at the last AGM, but we have not yet been successful. The role could be shared amongst a couple of people, perhaps a Junior/Senior split, and you can make yourself as busy as you wish!!! The key activities for the role are: Send out Comms to the Dressage riders on the next event and ask for entries (our Comms person can help with this) Collate the entries and send off to the Organising Club Send Payments to Treasurer (or pay direct to Bank Account) Make online Prelim entries for the event to BRC Fill in the Declaration Forms and ensure they are given to the event on the day Beg for Helpers and remember always to thank them Publish the results and do a write up for the newsletters There is a Summer Qualifier and a Winter Qualifier and then the Championships, so 4 events a year. I am more than happy to support someone during their first year and give any guidance I can, but could you all have a think again and see if you can spare a little time to help run the Dressage Teams. If there is a specific area you might like to pick up, then please do speak to 1 of the Cttee and it may be that we run the Dressage Team with more than 1 Team Volunteer. In the meantime thank you again to all of you who have supported me, competed in the teams, helped at events and generally made me proud to be a member of the Dressage Teams. Good Luck to all of you in the future, and I am sure you will still see me as I continue to support Houghton & Huntingdon Riding Club as we move forwards! Samantha Impey Ex Dressage Chef eek! If you can help in the role of Dressage Chef please get in contact with the club on huntingdondrc@gmail.com

9 The Club Annual General Meeting will be held on 16 th October at Houghton Hall. This is your opportunity to get involved with the club as we will be looking for several new committee members. This will be a free event which will include a buffet and a talk on Equine First Aid. We will need to have rough ideas of numbers for catering purposes. An will be sent out at the start of October please do let us know if you can attend or not. Meeting will commence at 7.00pm with the formal AGM business. There will be an opportunity to ask questions of the committee and we will vote in new committee members. Look forward to seeing you all there

10 The sessions arranged at Houghton Hall have been very well supported and I would like to thank everyone who has participated! From the onset we had our stalwart regulars - Kay Graves, Lil Glover and me (when Lil didn't go and I could take William) and a person who joined the club just for training - Penny Fortesque and the lovely "Jack". Penny said she just wanted to get Jack more balanced, obedient and controlled. She had never done "proper schooling" before! The results have shown in both their faces - grins from ear to ear. Well done Penny! Also thanks to everyone who has come along to make the sessions so successful. I would also like to thank our trainers Tara Osborn, Anna Koch, Fran Berry and Natalie Banks - all with varying techniques but all achieving clear improvement in all those who took part - including William and me! Thank you ladies. More sessions are being arranged for the autumn on a similar basis. Our problem area has been with jump training - whether show jumping or X-country techniques. Monday has to remain flat work, but Friday didn't prove popular with members. Hopefully the questionnaire will show what you would like. We cannot train at HH at weekends, or even midweek, so is Home Farm a better venue? Hope to see as many people as possible so you can all air your views. Thanks everyone. Anne Palmer Houghton Hall has also now confirmed discounts for members competing at Houghton. Discounts are available for Dressage and Clear Round Show Jumping. Members are entitled to 2.00 off per class for Dressage. Enter HHDRC15 as the discount code if booking online. If booking in person then please present your membership cards. Discounted entries will be validated against a membership list so I applicable for Club Members only. Clear round show jumping is available at two rounds for 7.00 on presentation of your membership card. Clear Round is turn up on the day. There is also a Christmas Show Jumping show on 19 th December. All club members will be entitled to one free round on presentation of your membership card. Thank you to Kim and the team at Houghton Hall for your continued support.

11 Sam celebrating success The horse trials was held at the beautifully hilly Swalcliffe Park near Banbury early August. We had a great turn out from Houghton and Huntingdon riding club with 7 riders qualifying for various classes. Georgie Sutton competed in the junior 80cm and got a great 29.5 dressage score and finished 16th in her arena, Phillippa King (junior) and Lucy Jakes (senior) competed in the 90cm and achieved really good dressage scores but took the difficult decision to withdraw. Then our senior team with the addition of Lauren Dolby from Wittering Riding club finished in 5th place in a hotly contested 100+ class. Katie Larman finished 14th in her arena, Katherine Peden came 5th and Sam Morgan won her arena which was a fab result. Well done to all riders and thanks to all the help and support! It's a real team event with great team spirit and laughs and giggles all weekend! Katie Larman (HT chef) kt_larman_x@hotmail.co.uk

12 This month we caught up with Clare Day who has been a hugely influential part of the club for a very long time who stepped in to help the club transition this year. How old were you when you started riding? I was 10 years old, and went to stay with a horsey friend in Ireland - got bitten by the bug and never looked back! I didn t own a horse until I was 21, as I lived in London until then. How did you first become involved with British Riding Clubs? I went to watch a Cambridge Riding Club lesson, and joined, being a member for some 10 years. I joined H&DRC when my daughter, Emma became a Junior member of Huntingdon, and it seemed silly to be rivals! What has been your most memorable moment of your involvement with horses? Watching Emma ride my lovely horse, Eriss, clear round the enormous fences in the main Hickstead arena, and the team subsequently winning the National Schools Championships. Not a dry eye in the house What discipline do you enjoy most with your horse? I find Dressage totally addictive, and enjoy it both as a rider and judge, but I also love hacking out. Clare and Rooney What has been your proudest moment? Being Chef d Equipe for the Club s Junior teams in 1999, when we won a total of 6 National titles. Everyone worked so well together - it was a fantastic year. Which horse has been your horse of a lifetime? I have been very fortunate in having 3 wonderful horses: my first, Tally, followed by Eriss, but I think I would have to say it is Rooney, my beautiful, wayward Connemara x TB, with whom I have come so far and love to bits. I look forward to seeing him every morning - the acid test! What do your family make of your life with horses I am so lucky to have a wonderfully supportive husband, Nigel, who is resigned to his fate as a horse-husband! How do you manage work, family and horses? I try to keep everything in perspective & recognise that sometimes one aspect needs more input than others, and that so long as the horses are fed, watered & made comfortable, the world doesn t end if they miss an odd day s ride.

13 Clare and Eriss Who has been the most influential person in your life with horses? I helped at a riding school in London during my school years in return for free rides, and the owner, Miss Dixon, was hugely influential. She was very strict, and insisted that everything was done just so, and I constantly find myself referring back to that way of thinking. I could not take my horse out with dirty hocks or bedding in the tail, or she would turn in her grave! Clare and Tally

14 Congratulations to Victoria Bradford and husband Gavin who are expecting baby Braders to arrive in time for Christmas. Watch this space for a cute picture in the next edition. Membership for 2016 is due from 1 st October. Membership forms on the website or with the . If anyone would like a version printing and posting to them please let me know. Judith Don t forget to do your membership survey. Your feedback is really important to us to help us grow the club and provide the events etc that are important to you all. We are trying to keep the website up to date with events, results and news so do keep checking in If you have any news or achievements you would like to share with the club or any classified adverts you would like placed then do contact Judith on jagjam@btinternet.com. If you would like to appear on the website or in the newsletter then please send in your pictures (ensure you have the rights to them please)

15 Committee Chairman Anne Palmer Vice Chairman Penny Hipwell Treasurer Sandra Aschetino Membership Samantha Impey Club Secretary Katherine Short Minutes Secretary Rebecca Robinson Training Co-ordinator Vacant Communications & Web site Judith Marshall Area 7 Liaison David Clarke Committee Maria Crawford Sarah Anderson Katie Larman Kim Fountain Lynda Warth Clare Day Team Chefs D'Equipe Dressage Samantha Impey dressagehdrc@live.co.uk Showjumping Katherine Short kaz214@hotmail.co.uk Horse Trials / Eventing Katie Larman kt_larman_x@hotmail.co.uk Endurance Susan Durman susan_durman@hotmail.com Juniors Sarah Anderson sazzy2706@yahoo.co.uk

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