| October |
Now its back to Next
years up and coming with breaking and training.
Short course are
now up and running as well as WATO training and assessment along with
monthly BDS assessing days. Book now!! |
| 7th
October |
HOYS - JJ finished
off a fabulous season by weeks later competing at HOYS and finishing in
the finals ending up 6th.
What and
achievement National Driving Trials Championships and Showing Championship
placings all within 2 weeks. |
| 21st/23rd
September |
Having been prepared
for the Nationals at Windsor then cancelled we held everyone up for the
following week at Catton.
Nicola with JJ
topped the Novice presentation, 2nd in dressage, 2nd by a smidgeon on the
marathon and only one down in the cones she ended up 1 fantastic 2nd and
Reserve Novice Pony Champion.
Minta ion the
meantime worked in in a horrendous rainstorm stopping as she trotted up
the centrs line but still despite everything was 5th in the dressage on 59
penalties. A storming marathon with obstacles 3-7 being the fasted of the
class brought the grey boys up to 4th overall and 3rd in the marathon.
Cones were fast and wee bit furious which sadly dropped them to 6th. So
plenty to work on over the winter but before all that the grey boys have
gone home for a holiday. |
| Sept |
WPEC. A great lesson
in whatever happens kick on. Rupert was unable to navigate this weekend so
a shortage of help started the ball rolling. William and Ollie are now
very fit and William was opinionated in the dressage, which was very
frustrating. The cones were again bullish but after a few weeks of practice
at a trot William was much improved. The lorry broke down Saturday night,
marathon day dawned with again limited help as others were competing in
other classes. Obstacle 6 was changed overnight so driven off a drawing.
Again the grey boys ate up the course so timing is crucial not to come in
too early. With cones scores of 126.04, 126.64 and 126.94 between the
first three Minta snatched the WPEC pairs championship by a whisker. Owner
of the greys showed her true dedication to the sport with two turnouts
competing. She digs in cleaning harness, grooming , driving and producing
lunch - one in a million. Next the Nationals. |
| 24th/26th
August |
Normandhurst was a
great sunny event , hot in comparison to previous weeks. Our dressage was
too much energy, nothing that a few more events wont cure. the marathon
went really well with Ollie maturing fantastically to be up there with
Jake. Timing went awry as the course had been rain soaked so we put it
down to a training event and overall pleased although 8th could be
improved on . Well done Nicola 2nd in Novice Qualifier and she and JJ are
improving fast. |
| August |
Again a quiet month.
Lowther was entered but with the heavy rain all through July it was felt
that we did not need to push the ponies to that extent so stayed at home
to hear foot and mouth declared on the Friday evening whilst Nicola was
away competing at WHHC West Overton 2 day event. Driving was kept to a
minimum on the farm to ensure no possible chance of cross
contamination as we are surrounded by beef cattle. Luckily Nicola could
return from the event without entering the exclusion zone. The ponies were
eased off as Borde Hill and Cadnam were cancelled. Then back to business
for Normandhurst for the greys and Nicola and JJ. |
| 30th
July |
30th Anniversary of
the tandem meet where Minta was elected President |
| 29th
July |
Ashfields - Nicola
and JJ were 4th this weekend
|
| 8th
July |
Surrey Area BDS -
Nicola and JJ got their Osbourne Section C qualification in the welsh
class and Kat Aburrow drove JJ to 2nd place in the Under 13.2
Private Drive shown below
|
| 1
July |
White Horse Harness Club
Inside Out – JJ & Nicola were third in the open class; however
the stars of the day were Helen Yeo and Woodly who were in joint 1st place
after the dressage and cones and finished second overall in the novice
class beaten only by 1.4 penalties – quite and achievement for only his
second attempt at obstacles. |
| July |
A competition rest
month for the boys and Minta. Lots of training and a couple of horses
being trained for driving. |
| 29th
June/1st July |
Sandringham - Wet
and international was this event with Miranda Cadwell from the USA
competing and raising Mintas game no end as a superb dressage saw her in
4th 30 penaties better than any previous test. A storming marathon with
Ollie and Jake taking her up to second behind the USA. Cones were speedy
in turbulant wind but Minta retained her 2nd by 0.2 of a penalty - giving
her 10 British points = a British Win. |
| 24th
June |
BDS
Annual Show – Ollie and William were 3rd in a huge pairs class but
totally overshadowed by Rupert and JJ winning the Young Drivers
Championship having won the class for 10 – 14 year old. This is a true
family dynasty as both mum and dad had previously won this championship.
Special thanks to Nicola and Kerry for not only lending JJ to Rup buit for
Kerry to groom. Also in the 10-14 age group was Georgia Brown who was 4th
trained by Minta. Georgia has huge potential so well done.
Nicola
and Carrwood Acclaim were
successful in the Novice pony class going on to be Reserve Novice
Champions . Second to them in their class was Kat Aburrow and Parc Cadno
both whip and pony trained by Minta. |
| 20th/21st
June |
Lincolnshire County.
Ollie and William turned their hand to showing winning the pairs class and
reserve pony champions to HOYS winner Nigel Fuller, they also featured in
the Concours d'Elegance final. |
| |
Three days after
Royal Cornwall JJ was back doing trials – this time an indoor outdoor
event organised by The Oaks Driving Club where he scored a superb P &
P test of 17.5, only 1 penalty in the cones followed by some very fast
times in the obstacles to win the Open Pony Class. |
| 7th/9th
June |
Royal
Cornwall
Show – as one of Nicola’s favourite shows the team decide to make the
long trip south for JJ’s one and only
County
Show
. It was certainly well worth it – JJ stormed round the Main Arena
and with a win in the 13.2 & under he then took the Show Championship.
This not only gave the team a ticket to the Victoria Foods Championship
but also one to HOYS!! Pictures below
We
think this makes JJ unique this year – first the Indoor Championships,
then the Novice Driving Trial Championships and then HOYS – all in one
year! |
|
|
| 10th
June |
Farleigh . Disaster
struck 3 days before the event with Ollie being bitten by an adder which
resulted in Minta missing Farleigh with the pair which was the final
selection event. Instead Jake competed as a single in the Intermediate
class. He drove the best dressage to date, worked his socks off round the
Farleigh hills and obstacles on slopes with a vehicle with no
brakes! and except for a slight difference of opinion between driver and
pony he achieved overall 2nd to which owner Wendy Wybrew and Minta were
delighted. In the meantime Ollies bite was improving daily with the
help of Neo Ice (see link on our supporters page) without this
recovery would surely have been longer. |
| June |
June saw the pair
back at WPEC with a much improved dressage score and more settled cones |
| 28
May |
Stockwood
Park
- JJ has an outing with Minta’s son Rupert – this time he is
back in the show ring with Kerry grooming. In atrocious conditions
“the boys”
battle
on and Rupert wins the Style & Performance class and the Young Driver
Class one of the hottest to date. It took a week for everything to dry!! |
| 10th/13th
May |
Royal Windsor -
Whilst in Conty Minta received a call to say she had a wild card entry
into Royal Windsor. The weather was appalling wind, rain, cold. They
completed an exuberant dressage, ploughed through a tough marathon
and completed a powerful cones course staying consistently 4th throughout-
this event was a huge learning curve and it was back to the drawing board
for some points |
| 25th/29th
April |
Conty France. Minta
and the grey boys left for Conty in France to compete in their first
International event, with Rupert Mintas son as backstepper. They were 12th
in the dressage - completed an excellent marathon with Jake and Ollie,
crossing elbow deep water 7 times and then Ollie and Jake drove a clear in
the cones to finish 12th, an excellent result for the biggest event of
their lives |
| 28th/29th
April |
Downlands 2 day
event – Nicola & JJ (Oldmere Jester) qualify for the National Novice
Championships; Nicola’s youngster Woodly (Carwood Acclaim) driven by
Helen Yeo also completed this event in great style – his first ever
driving trial. The team then decided that JJ needed a break so has
been given May off. |
| 8th
April |
Windsor Park
Equestrian Club saw 5 combinations from Team Walla out in force. Minta was
building on the 'Training for the Worlds' with team trainer Robert Buck.
Ollie (Tuppeny Bit) and William (Sweet William) driving the dressage and
then Jake (Tuppeny Royal) driving the marathon. Results were good and
pleasing - Dressage was the order of the day at the second WPEC meet with
Ollie and William building on their previous scores.
Stapleford Pocket
Rocket driven by Minta Winn was first in the dressage - Well done
Rocky.
Nicola Blandin
and JJ (Oldmere Jester) won the dressage, 2nd by a whisker on the marathon
and yet another double clear. Her new acquisition went along for the
ride to Windsor and was very close behind JJ in the dressage and just one
down in the cones, Wendy Wybrew drove Socks for a 4th in the dressage and
faithful Helen Cunmore Wendy's groom drove him in section E on the
marathon.
|
| 31stMarch
-1st April |
Indoor finals at
Keysoe.
Nicola Blandin
and JJ (Oldmere Jester) had
a good dressage and double
clear and the overnight lead in the indoor finals before finishing 6th in
a very hotly contested Open Pony final. |
|
17th March
|
Oaks
Indoor Novices Event
Stapleford
Pocket rocket driven by Helen Yeo 2nd, achieved the only double clear
round
Nicola
Blandin drove Woody at his first outing in harness, won the dressage of
the day, went for a careful cones and nice trip round the obstacles
to achieve 2nd in the young ponies class
Rupert
Barnard drove Oldmere Jester to win the junior prize and his class section
by 14 penalties, and was only beaten in the dressage lowest score by
Nicola, he also backstepped for Helen and Nicola so a busy and successful
yard day out! |