EACDG Elveden one-day event

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It got hotter and hotter – the sun, the heat, the competition, the mustard in the stewards’ delicious Elveden sandwiches… Lord and Lady Iveagh kindly invited us to use the facilities at Elveden Estate on Saturday for training with Wilf Bowman-Ripley and Sarah-Jane Williams and for a one-day, three-phase competition on Sunday. I don’t know what the arrangement is at Elveden but so far the weather gods have looked on us favourably and the sandy sloping grassland is hoof-friendly and not too hilly for our first outing en plein air this season. Such a huge entry meant that we’d changed the schedule from three obstacles driven twice to four different obstacles (driven once), but I heard not one squeak of complaint. We hate turning people away – but early entries make life a lot easier for us (hint!).

Harry Luff, Technical Delegate,and the staff of Elveden had been working hard to set up road signs, lay out the arenas and dress the obstacles for many days before and it was bliss to turn up and find the marquee up and everything beautifully prepared. David Taylor set out the cones course and Harry Luff found the club’s lovely big numbers and laid those out, too, so even I could see where I was going. It all looked Very Professional.

About half the entry (out of 47, yes, 47!) have been competing indoors so ponies and horses were generally pretty fit and everyone was keen. The night was cold for those who stayed over (especially those who left a window open) and the gas for the catering urn froze but the frost soon disappeared and the day warmed while a persistent breeze kept the horses cool.

John Attenborough and Heather Davenport, Micheal Cooper and Rachel Gallyon judged the dressage, which we limited (almost) to just two tests, 1a and pre-novice, to keep the event simple to organise. We ran two dressage arenas and people went straight to the cones course after dressage. Harry gave a short technical briefing at 1 o’clock and the action-packed afternoon began at 2, with a 7.2kms-section E.

Diana Irwin and her sparkling new dapple grey mare Bella scored the best dressage, 43.6, Amy Last and Cardi 45.6, and Ben Grose 47.6, open horse, open pony and open horse classes respectively. Double-clear cones rounds went to Deirdre Luff, Ginny White (open pony), Diana Irwin, Chris Patrick (pre-novice horse class, in his first event outdoors – but don’t be fooled, Chris is National Reserve Champion in the novice horse class indoors) and a delighted Graham Cooper.

The obstacles had been flagged quite simply and drove sweetly. They were only 200m from the stable field so we all walked them lots of times and enjoyed a good view.

Quickest marathon belonged to open pony driver Amy Last, 28.06 in a class of 10 and Amy ended on 74.19, the day’s overall winner. Louise Garget was very pleased with Kirsty’s third place in the 11-strong open pony class, Anna Goodrum returning to her place on Louise’s Bennington’s backstep. Deirdre Luff ended second and Ginny White fourth. Liz Harcombe, newly promoted from novice class, was unfortunately eliminated and, sadly, had some time faults in the cones as friend Amy had not mentioned the course speed… Jenifer Barker-Simson, icon of East Anglian driving, enjoyed the marathon only with Leyeswick Lil and new friend Boyd Coote backstepping. It was good to see new and new-ish ponies out with Roger and Jackie Driver, Sandra Cook and Janet and Derek Seaman.

Although alone in her class, Barbara Kingsley-Monks had a lovely time with her pony pair while Linda Hill’s Shetland’s just kept in front of Veronica Zwetsloot’s Section A’s in the small pony class.

Among the novice pony drivers Katy Garrett topped Alison Tyas – just – with only 0.15 penalties between them in the marathon, but Katy’s better dressage kept Ziggy ahead. Cathy Gilbert followed then Caroline De Rienzo, Rachel Horton and a delighted Carolyn Bartlett, a welcome “returner”. Margaret Wooding had an unlucky accident in the stable before the event started and withdrew: our best wishes for a speedy recovery go to her.

Another mighty battle was between 2010 pre-novice points league winner Lorna Ingram with Stig and Dean Shelton with new pony Sonic, Jo Shelton grooming, Dean’s mere 6 penalties in the cones keeping Sonic’s nose in front.

Just 3.14 penalties behind open horse winner Diana Irwin was speedy Jill Wood and even speedier Lyn Price was third. Then came the Midlands club regular Jan Grimble then Kelly Jeffery, Steph Richards with her “almost new” horse Tom and a happy Jane and Ben Smith (who are selling a beautifully re-sprayed and re-furbished 7.5 tonne lorry, if you are looking). Clare Iveagh’s HGV horsebox is also for sale: Annette Bond found scoring in there very convenient and strongly recommends its comforts.

Chris Patrick and Jess Hine are hooked, I hope, on outdoor competing as well as indoor, having had such a nice time. I hope that Caroline Parkin, also a keen indoor driver, will be able to join them this season as she had to withdraw this time.

Six novice horse drivers swapped their placings around until Graham Cooper topped the list, closely followed by Fiona Gordon-Clarke of Carriagehouse Insurance and Ian Clarke with ex-trotter Korsa. Unusually, Zoe Napier’s cones score let her down but it was tight at the top. Wendy and Brian Embleton came a companionable fourth and fifth and Yvonne Farmer was, sadly, shown the big E.

Pony tandem class was won by the colourful turnout of Tabitha and Steve King, with a new chestnut wheeler, and second was Martin Yemm and Christopher Bond with a flaxen-pointed new leader. Lone horse tandem driver David Taylor came in safely as did the two-and-a-half horse pairs Martin Wilson and Jacqui Clarke – and Daniel Naprous for obstacle 4.

Wilf Bowman-Ripley and Daniel Naprous of the Devil’s Horsemen took their teams round (most of) the course. Dressage began conventionally enough, then cones were no trouble, however Daniel re-engineered the front of his carriage on a post at obstacle three and was generously allowed to finish the course driving only his wheelers as his leaders were taken home for an early bath. No horses or people were damaged, fortunately. Clare Iveagh took her pony four-in-hand round the dressage and cones but decided to opt out of the obstacles.

The TD Harry Luff, course designer David Taylor, steward organiser Hilary Ray and her band of stewards and volunteers, the schedulers and paperwork organisers, the scorer – Annette Bond using Mike Watts’ new and improved driving trials scoring software – and score-collector Bill Page, paramedic Jon Nice, our judges and writers and the cones party as well as the staff at Elveden, Janet Sycamore for arranging the catering and the restaurant for providing sandwiches will, I hope, all glow with satisfaction at having contributed to making a memorable opening event for so many people at Elveden for our 2011 season. Thank you all!

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