Beechwood Equestrian Team

We were extremely fortunate indeed to be able to field a full team during half term’s National Championships at Hickstead as there were so many obstacles and issues with both riders and horses to overcome. Despite all this, the Beechwood Squad of Rory, Chloe, Nicole, John and Guy tried their absolute best in the arenas and were also extremely helpful to the NSEA organisers by being the only team helping to build the course! 

Friday started with the warmup class in Arena 3 with the Team show jumping at 70cm.  This helped the team and ponies become familiar with the big arena environment especially John and Guy who were riding borrowed ponies for the first time; a challenging task!    

Early Saturday morning, led to the 75cm Eventers Challenge and Rory, Chloe, Guy and Nicole took to the famous Hickstead All Weather X Country Arena. All rode well but a particular mention should go to Rory and Chloe who completed a very technical course.  

Sunday started very early ready for the Show jumping finals at 70cm. There was some lovely riding here from Rory, Chloe and Nicole but a special mention should go out to Guy G on Crispie. The pair were on fire and had a fantastic round, going amazingly fast and more importantly clear, leaving them in the top half of the class nationally.  

The 85cm Eventers Challenge saw John G partnering Teddy for the first time in this discipline. The pair rode a brave round with some impressive riding from John. Chloe, on Freckles, should be very proud of her round as she continues to get better each time she competes.  Rory saved the best round for last and aced it on his new mare, Roxy.  He remained calm and determined and rode her clear over all 18 fences, coming 75th out of the top 252 riders nationally at this height.  

It was a tough weekend and the Beechwood team had to dig deep. The girls were without the support of their mentor and Guy and John were on borrowed ponies which were not ideal conditions for a championship. Despite this, the team rallied and all did extremely well, supporting each other.  

A fantastic weekend of riding for the Beechwood Equestrian Team – well done.

Also, a huge thank you to the team manager extraordinaire, Mrs Laing, for coordinating everyone so well and making it all possible.