2009 Report |
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Escrick Park – September in the Sun!
Fifty competitors came to Escrick on the weekend of 19th/20th September to contest the last outdoor event of the season and also have the chance to be crowned Northern Champion in their class. The weather was fantastic and once again this year, those horses and ponies who had made a good start on their winter coats were wishing they hadn’t! Ten drivers made up the pre-novice class, which has been extremely well supported all year. Overnight leader was Ian Glendenning with his piebald Shetland who scored an extremely good 39.6 in the dressage which he followed up with a double clear in the cones – one of only four in the whole event. (There would have been another double clear from this class when first time competitor Steph Milner and her spotted Shetland Elvis turned for the outgate within the time. Unfortunately, Elvis felt the need to answer a call of nature and could not be persuaded to move until he was done!) Sadly, Ian had to retire on the marathon which left the door open for Ross Wilkinson who drove the fastest marathon to take the win.
In the novice horse class Steve Nichol again asserted his authority to lead throughout, another to get an elusive double clear in the cones. Steve also managed to win the marathon by a narrow margin from Graham Heath, who took second place.
Novice ponies were thin on the ground with only two competitors, but Anne Hampshire prevailed over Kim Usher to gain the red rosette. In the intermediate pony Jill Williams was delighted to win the dressage with a score of 48.4 – the first time she has scored under the 50 mark so a real milestone. In second place going into Sunday Jill and the rest of the class were left in the dust as Rosie Mould scorched round the obstacles to take first place.
Steve Hoyle was another driver delighted with his improved dressage performance to win that section, but his three cones down within the time was beaten by Wendy Peckham, who was also within the time but only had one cone down. Catherine Worsman put up a determined effort to overcome a less than optimum dressage score and won the marathon in great style. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite enough and Wendy took the win from Sarah Meredith in second place.
The Open Horse class, which contained both the National Open Champion (Judy Hilditch) and the driver who came second (Wendy Stromberg) showed some healthy dressage scores across the board. Overnight leader was Mike Howard by the narrowest of margins from Wendy, who had the final double clear in the cones. Marathon specialist Judy Hilditch turned up the heat however, and scored the fastest time of the day leaving Mike to take the win by only two penalties, pushing Wendy into third.
Gary Brown won the Open Pony dressage from Mary Longbottom, another driver delighted to be under the 50 mark. Gary had the best of the cones however, with only one down within the time to be overnight leader. On Sunday though, it was Glenys Ellis who won the marathon, when Gary made an unscheduled exit from his carriage as it hit a rail. Luckily, Gary managed to recover his poise and return to the box seat in a manoeuvre which would have done well on Strictly Come Dancing, but the 20 penalties earned and time wasted saw him finish the marathon in third place. Even so, he managed to win the class by only 1 penalty from Glenys with Sue Pridding in third.
The pairs class was also well supported with seven competitors taking part. Douglas Strachan had the best of cones with two down and only 4 time penalties to be in the lead going into Sunday. Sadly many of his fellow competitors fell by the wayside (quite literally in one case) leaving Douglas to storm round the marathon and take win from Sara Bower.
Two tandems, one horse, one pony, fought for the honours in that class. The lead went turn and turn about over the three phases, with Jeff Ormerod prevailing on the marathon to win the class from Pat Cooper.
It was a wonderful weekend to end the season on and all class winners took home their Northern Champion trophies to have something to remember it by. For all those of you who will be concerned to know, Val Whitesmith whose ponies had an unfortunate fall and resulting accident on the flat between obstacles two and three, despite cuts and bruises and understandably feeling very sorry for themselves, Casper and Jaz are recovering well, as are Val and Jodie. I’m sure you all join me in wishing them all the best and saying that we look forward to their return to driving as soon as they are able.
Jane Wilson
Escrick Spring Training Weekend
The promised long hot summer was still just a dream as twelve drivers and their grooms, ponies and various other helpers descended on Escrick for the third annual training weekend arranged and brilliantly organized by Jane Wilson. ‘Camp’ was set up on Friday in near gale force winds and squally showers but everyone looked forward to a weekend of training with dressage instructor Joyce Fearns and former national pony pairs champion Rachel Stevens.
Saturday morning saw four pairs drivers having individual dressage lessons with Rachel and then Joyce stepped in to take the eight singles drivers through their paces. In the meantime Rachel showed everyone how cones driving SHOULD be done and by the end of the day everyone agreed that the standard of the training had been very high and that everybody had learned something new and improved their own and their horse/pony’s performance.
Saturday evening was a ‘BYO’ food and drink get together in an ingeniously constructed complex of awnings and gazebo which almost, but not quite, kept out the worst of the weather. With fabric side walls flapping in the wind and held down by human endeavor and strategically placed chairs, moving to go to the buffet (a fantastic spread) meant getting someone else to hold your piece of the place down. Nonetheless a great (cold) time was had by all and the camaraderie which builds around driving was plain to see and hear.
Sunday saw rather better weather and everyone had the chance to work with Joyce in the dressage arena and Rachel in the obstacles. A real bonus was being able to train with Joyce and then immediately do a ‘practice’ test judged by Phillipa Thompson – if only you could do so well without the lesson beforehand! Rachel took drivers in groups of four which meant everyone had the chance to learn from each other as well as practicing those aspects of obstacles which they individually found most challenging.
As we packed up to go home at the end of the day much had been learned and achieved and there was a real consensus that it would be great to do this more often. Jane had managed to keep everyone to time and nobody had to be in the same place twice – no mean feat. Rachel and Joyce seemed genuinely pleased with what had been achieved and how hard everyone had worked.
Thank you to everyone for making such a great occasion.
Sponsored Drive: Escrick April 2009
It was Doreen Strachan who gave us the idea at the helper’s lunch back in February. She had knitted 25 delightful chicks which not only looked cute but contained a chocolate egg as well! Doreen gave us the pattern and the idea was born. Get half a dozen people together who could knit and had nothing else to do and we had cracked it! Simple! Being Yorkshire girls we remembered the old mantra, “if you want something doing then ask a busy person”. A time was arranged for coffee and the “Knit and Natter” group was born – well, nearly. The only person who didn't’t do any knitting was the driver of the pony who was actually going to take part in the sponsored drive!
The idea was to knit as many Easter Chicks as possible and then sell them at a coffee morning.
Luck was on our side. The craft shop in our village deserved a visit, the thinking being that they may donate some wool etc. Chris, who runs Country Crafts was not only willing to donate but suggested that we use her craft room for the coffee morning – it’s in the middle of Denby Dale high street – great! Sadly, Chris’s dad had died of dementia and she was happy to support our cause. A date was agreed on so we all got knitting. Alicia enlisted her mum and mum-in-law, Fay roped in her mum, Marjorie had retired at Christmas and Audrey turned up to start knitting lacy chicks. (Please note that Linda’s knitting skills are not mentioned!).
Alicia organized a cake bake at work which raised £200, the village butcher’s shop sold the knitted chicks and the local health food shop “Your Nuts” donated goods for the raffle hamper. So, donations were received, needles clacked, sewing machines whizzed and Alicia was left in charge whilst Linda went on holiday to Tenerife!
Coffee morning arrived and it was an amazing day! By the time 1pm came around and our takings were added up we were astounded! What a team effort and what generosity. At that point we had raised £550 and still had some more money to come in. A fantastic result. Thanks to everyone including my milkman Duncan who donated the milk for the coffee!
Linda and Alicia
PS This was done in memory of my dad Bert, who died of Alzheimer’s, and for all the hours he spent taking me to the Pony Club come rain or shine.
Linda Gough