Welcome back to eventing!
An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Aske Horse Trials - order or view videos here
While Tweseldown and Barbury also ran their first events post-lockdown, we were at Aske Hall last weekend enjoying the beautiful Yorkshire sunshine and the perfect ground conditions carefully prepared by BEDE Events.
The event was extremely well run and, despite the lack of spectators, it still felt more or less like a normal day of eventing, although it was a little strange not having any commentary out on the cross-country course. The trade stands had implemented excellent safety measures and I would urge everyone to make good use of them if you can. They are working really hard to provide us with hot food and drinks and we need to support them.
The weekend kicked off with BE100 sections and the Section A was won by James Adams on Irco, owned jointly by himself and his sister Sally Gillespie.
James, who is based at his own Oakwood Stud near Darlington where he produces event horses, told us that “I’m also busy coaching show-jumping from my yard and was delighted to see so many of my clients jumping clear rounds at Aske in the testing show-jumping course. The event was beautifully presented and praise must go to the organisers”
The first winner of one of our cross-country videos was 19-year-old Robyn Bowness, who has just finished her first year of study at Hartpury University. She won in the BE100 Section B on Country Fair Lady, owned by Jannet Bowness.
“I’ve been brought up through Oxenholme Pony Club and started eventing when I was 11. I was involved with the BE Under 18 programme and really enjoyed the years I competed at the championships with the northern team.”
“This is my first BE win on Country Fair Lady who I have produced from BE80 myself, so I was very proud. She was happy to be back out competing and all the dressage practise over lockdown must have paid off as we scored our first sub 30 dressage. She show-jumped beautifully and ate up the cross country course.”
“It was my first time competing at Aske, the venue is lovely and the event ran very smoothly even with all the new regulations. The cross country was inviting yet testing, perfect for our first time out this season. The course ran in front of the impressive Aske Hall which made it feel a special event - we had a great day and would love to go back there!”
Section C was won by Amy Osborne on her own Walter Tate.
“I entered Aske Horse Trials a bit apprehensively as my track record there hadn’t been great after a nasty fall at my last visit two years ago - I did say I would never return. I entered as I was missing eventing far too much and just wanted to get out as soon as possible so I thought I needed to face my demons and it turns out it was third time lucky”
“Walter, my homebred horse, looked after me incredibly going straight into the lead after dressage (this is normally our weak phase, so lockdown has had its benefits in some ways I suppose). The pressure was on! I was very lucky in the show-jumping section as he did hit one rail, but luck was on my side and it stayed up. He flew round the cross country inside the time and then we had to sit and wait - I bet the eventing scores app had never been refreshed so much!”
“One competitor (the last score to go up) went in to first place after the dressage but ended up with time faults. On the way back home, I refreshed the page AGAIN to see we had done it much to my amazement - what a confidence boost!”
“It felt so good to be back out eventing and the team at Aske Horse Trials did an amazing job with the current Covid-19 restrictions. Hopefully we’ll be back out competing at Frickley in a few weeks’ time”
The impressive venue of Aske Hall
Molly Turcan won BE100 Section D on Katie Wood’s Tubberscanavan Clover and Sara Bowe took the Novice Section F on MHS Seventeen, owned by Deirdre Johnston.
“I run an event yard near Bedale, North Yorkshire so Aske is a local event for us and we have been coming here ever since I first started eventing at the age of 14. It’s a lovely event in a beautiful setting. I have to say that having walked the Novice cross country on Friday evening, I thought it was a decent, technical track and it certainly rode that way with plenty of problems across the course” said Sara
“MHS Seventeen is a seven-year-old gelding by Callahan. He’s a fantastic jumper and the undulation in the show jumping didn’t faze him and he jumped a super clear, standing us in good stead going cross country. He was bold and straight and ate up the course”
“He is owned by a fantastic owner and supporter of mine, Deirdre Johnston who gave me an amazing opportunity when she sent me out to find a horse to event for her. I have been riding for Deirdre for over 10 years now and I am very grateful to her for the ride on this lovely horse”
“I’ll add that I felt the event had excellent measures in place for the current situation and made everyone feel safe and it was still a very enjoyable experience! It’s great to be back!”
Novice Section G was won by Brier Leahy on her own Wil Celtic Wingman and she also competed Seapatrick Carlento.
“I’m based in North Wales and work full time with horses doing schooling and sales liveries, freelance riding and teaching. I’ve produced William (Wil Celtic Wingman) since he was a three-year-old, so know I him quite well! And I’ve known Patrick (Seapatrick Carlento) for about a year”
“The win was quite a shock, I’d have put money on the other one (Patrick) bringing home the money rather than William but Patrick was far too excited about being out. He did a super test and show jumped well but was a bit too keen to get going cross country and we sailed past the B element of fence four. He was brilliant from then on though and gave me a great ride. We’ve been working really hard on William’s flatwork and it showed through in his test which was really satisfying”
“He found the show-jumping quite hard because he’s naturally a very careful guy and the ground made him extra cautious, so I knew I needed to really push him forward cross country to keep him confident and bold. He was actually really cool on cross country and jumped out of his rhythm so I was surprised to see he was the fastest as he didn’t feel fast at all!”
“I thought the event ran very well, everything seemed seamless, everyone behaved. It was easy to understand and follow the rules and it still felt relaxed. Everyone seemed happy, I think we were all just pleased to be out”
Wills also finished second to Susie Berry in the OI Section I with Oughterard Cooley
The Intermediate sections were won by Wills Oakden on Macgregors Cooley and AKD Cooley Lockdown, full brothers that were bred in Ireland by Anna Dillon and purchased by their owner Ella Macgregor from Cooley Farm
“Both horses are incredibly exciting and have enormous engines” says Wills
“We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone for getting us back up and going. It felt fantastic to be back out and apart from not having a commentator on cross country, it just felt like normal. All the horses were in fantastic form, we made the decision to have them ready to run for the middle of June knowing that the date we had in mind would be optimistic, but if we took our time to have the horses fit and ready we wouldn’t be risking injuries by rushing back”
While Wills drove south from Scotland, Susie Berry made the journey north from her new yard in Northamptonshire for her first visit to Aske Hall.
She made the trip worthwhile winning the the Intermediate on Ringwood LB (watch their winning cross country ride here), owned by Helen Caton, the last Novice section of the weekend on Kilcandra Capitol, owned by Truckeast Limited and the Open Novice on Caroline’s Air KM. Not surprisingly Susie was relieved and excited to finally be back out eventing and she ‘was even more excited when the ponies all felt like they had not missed a beat’
“I’ve found it quite difficult to keep the older horses motivated during lockdown” explained Susie “I spent most days hacking them out. Ringwood LB can be quite laid back and I find he loses his extra sparkle when he’s not eventing so I kept him out of the school and worked him in the fields to keep him fresh and happy”
“I’ve never been to Aske before, but it was definitely worth the long drive. I thought that both the show jumping and cross country courses were very educational, the weekend was very well run and everything seemed to go smoothly despite us all being out of practice!”
Susie and Caroline's Air KM
BE90 Section K was won by Tilly Milbank on Manninard Domhnall, Section L by Lucille Jones on Mabel III and Section M by Grace Barr on Balnashallog Maestro, all owned by their riders.
Grace Barr, winner of one of our videos, is just 14 years old (watch her winning cross country ride here)
“I have done quite a bit of eventing at Pony Club level with my previous pony on whom I was also placed at the Horse of the Year Show in the 133cm Working Hunter class in 2018. I have competed in Working Hunter with Balnashallog Maestro (Jerry) but I am moving into eventing now” Grace told us
“Jerry is a 10-year-old, 14 hand Connemara that I have owned for about 18 months. He was previously lightly competed in Working Hunter Pony classes, but we found he excels in eventing having done a few events in 2019. We’ve developed a really good bond over the last few months thanks to lockdown and he has shown his truly willing side, expanding his flat work repertoire and jumping really well. He is quite green cross country but he is really bold and confident and always gives 110%. His advert said he has a 'heart of a lion' and never a more true word was said. He never refuses and rarely has a pole, he gives me a great feel over the jumps. At home Jerry is a very laid- back pony and loves lots of attention and food, especially apples!”
“Aske was Jerry's first one day event of 2020 and it was certainly a successful one. It was a very well organised event and it all felt very safe. The cross country was my favourite part because it was really spectacular with the course running past the impressive Aske Hall”
“Our plans are to event at BE100 for the rest of the season with the aim of possibly Pony Trialling next year, but our main aim is to enjoy going eventing now that it is back up and running”
Jane Thompson and Katie Woodall won the last two BE90 classes, on Lord Bless Van T Molhem and Brave and Blazing Boy, both owned by their riders.
Katie Magee won Section P in the BE100 class on Jellyon, owned by herself, Heidi Woodhead and Ian Woodhead.
“It was lovely to be back out, especially at our local event. We have a small yard of horses from youngsters to 4* and really hoping to make the step up to 5* soon. I thought all the courses at Aske rode well and, as always, they used the terrain to the full effect, probably more noticeable with not competing on grass much this year!!”
Emily King won the BE100 Section Q on MBF Arctic Emperor (watch their cross country ride here), owned by David King and the Section S on Imposant, owned by Peter, Susan and Minnie Kerr-Dineen. Lois Teal won the Section T on Astronautes Voyage, owned by Jessica Mclernon. Section R was taken by Andrew Heffernan on Rafiki, owned in collaboration with Lisa Anson.
We look forward to the continued relaxation of the lockdown rules, which will hopefully mean more spectators and the reinstatement of cross-country commentary.
As a first event back, Aske was very well run, and we were pleased to assist with cameras on the entrance to help the track and trace effort. Stay safe everyone, and we will see you at Warwick Hall in Cumbria this weekend!
Article by Jess Johnson
