An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Oasby (1) 2020 - order or view videos here
Of the 12 BE100 classes that took place at Oasby (1), two were BE100 Regional Finals for the Science Supplements Cup at Badminton 2020, making it even more exciting for the winners (although sadly these the inaugural Science Supplements Cup is now cancelled)
The first BE100 Regional Final Section U1 was won by Reena Ellis on their own Fairfield Cassidy, or Archie as he’s known at home.
“I've owned Archie, who’s now 10, since he was a very green five-year-old” Reena told us “We've worked up through the levels together from BE80T and it’s taken a long time to get to this point. I had one regional final qualification from last year, so I was completely overwhelmed to qualify, let alone win! It was very unexpected..!”
The second BE100 Regional Final Section U2 was won by 19-year-old Ayla Forster-Blenkinsop on her own Frodo Baggins who works in her family business, a riding centre in County Durham
“I left school and went into A-levels, however I realised quickly that they weren’t for me, and I’m now working within the equestrian industry helping my mum with our family business” says Ayla
“The pony that I qualified on is Frodo Baggins and I’ve had him since I was 12. We bought him as a freshly backed six-year-old ex-driving pony. He had pulled a living wagon to Appleby for three years in a row, however mum took a chance as she loved how bold and forward he was. I started jumping him and we shortly realised he loved it! I then started eventing him when I was 13 and we both just got the bug”
“We started at BE80 and worked up to BE100 by the end of 2014, however I suffered from anaemia, so we had to take it easy in 2015. That year at Bishop Burton I missed out on qualifying for the Badminton Grassroots Championships by one penalty. 2016 came and I really took a turn for the worse; in July I started suffering from seizures which put a major stop to my riding, so I wasn’t able to ride for 8 weeks. That year I had three shots to get to Badminton Grassroots BE90 but I missed out on them all due to my health issues”
“The years after that we decided that I should just have fun on him and if I got there then I got there and if I didn’t well it wasn’t meant to be due to me being busy with A’ levels. 2018 came and I changed career paths to get an apprenticeship with my mum which meant more time to train my ponies and horses. I put so much time into training I thought I’d have another go at getting to Badminton, I had one shot and unfortunately I had a pole therefore I didn’t get there.”
“Last year we moved back up to BE100 for the full season and Frodo had never felt better I felt like we were in for a real shot at getting there and I had two chances to qualify. At my first event I finished 13th as my dressage wasn’t as good as it should be. I was entered for Norton Disney and Weston Park however they both got abandoned so I used all winter to work on my dressage and it paid off!”
“A 26.8 dressage and a double clear with only 0.8 to add for cross county time meant we led from the start to win and qualify at Oasby (1)”
“I have a couple of horses at home and one I have high hopes for is by Bazzars Chief. However, he hasn’t evented before therefore I will be taking it slowly with him, but he will be out this season and I am excited to see what he will achieve”
Read our Intermediate/Novice report from Oasby (1) here
Read our other BE100 classes report from Oasby (1) here
