Sunshine and great going at Horseheath (1)
An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Horseheath (1) - view or order videos here
The sun shone down on the wonderfully friendly event at Horseheath (1) over the Easter weekend.
Good weather for eventing is always welcome, but the recent dry spell meant that Tim Barling and his team had to put a lot of work and over 10,000 gallons of water into preparing the ground at the Horseheath Racecourse in Cambridgeshire, making it a good surface for all those competing.
Sacha Hourigan and Twice As Nice through the wooded area in the BE90
The BE80, 90 and 100 courses consisted of some lovely, shady, wooded canters and one or two splashes through the water alongside some inviting, educational fences and the effort put into the going was appreciated by riders and owners
Chris Mann, owner of Caroline Powell’s ride Greenacres Special Cavalier, was on hand to witness his young horse’s win in the PwC BE100 Section C
“I brought Cavy (Greenacres Special Cavalier) last year as a five-year-old. When she arrived, she'd only just been backed so Caroline has been easing her in gently and she's now starting to understand what it’s all about. She has a huge heart and I'm really excited about what the future holds for her”
“Massive credit must go to the organisers of the event and the hard work that would have gone into it. Given that we've had hardly any rain, the cross country track rode really well. Everyone was incredibly friendly, and we look forward to coming back next time. It's one of the more local venues for us and I hope they can hold higher levels of class in not too distant future”
Chris may not have long to wait as the Horseheath organisers have asked British Eventing for a Novice class to be added to their schedule in April 2020 so watch this space ….
Claire Dodson , winner of the PwC BE100 Section A
The winner of the BE100 Section A was Claire Dodson on Second Vision, an 11-year-old gelding that Claire has ridden since 2017 who is co-owned by Linda Tallett. Claire came back into eventing after having her two children, Megan (6) and Fern (8) and since then she has been on a bit of a rollercoaster; a fractured pedal bone halted their first season of competing, then Claire suffered a fall the following season, so both owner and rider were rightfully delighted by their success at Horseheath.
Claire described the course as “A lovely, rolling, galloping course with a few questions to test your turning along the way, the going was perfect and it’s such a friendly event”. We wish Claire continuing good luck at her next event in May!
The BE100 Section B was won by Megan Page on her own Iloma, Section D by Mary Edmundson on Tashkaldou, owned by The Jackpots and a previous winner here and Section E was taken by Harestone, owned and ridden by Jasmine Wilks.
Daisy Hills, winner of the NFU Mutual BE90 Section K
Fifteen year old Daisy Hills won the BE90 Section K on Taurmore Buster, affectionately known as Eddie, who she has owned since 2017. Daisy has recently moved up to competing at BE100 and the pair finished eighth in the BE100 Open Under 18 section at South of England (1) earlier this month.
Their next event will be on the hallowed grounds of Badminton, having qualified for the BE90 class of the Mitsubishi Motors Cup Championships. Daisy would like to thank everyone at Horseheath for their hard work on organising such a well-run event, Voltaire for kitting her out with a new saddle, her trainers and, most importantly, her mum for driving her and Eddie around the country to compete.
Other BE90 section winners included Lisa Maynard on Kitty Marlow’s Cassino Valeroyale, Aaron Otway and Dreamworks Desire owned by Eve Mayes took section G, and Corinne Roberts with her own Fourstar Struck were the winners of section H.
Jayne Cummins won Section I on her own Spring Vayu, section J was won on Winterdown Shutterfly, owned and ridden by Mollie Harris, and section L was won by Maisie Grover on her 20 year old Newrath Samson.
Emma Shaw and Uncle Monty, sixth in the NFU Mutual BE90 Section K
The inclusion of a BE80 track provided a perfect combination of inviting fences and a few technical elements requiring concentration, determination and steering!
The winners of the four BE80(T) sections were Phoebe Plumb, who won Section M on her five year old Haw Cruise, Jenna Davies won Section N on her own Abbotts Vale Remus, Julia Kershaw took Section O with Kay Burtenshaw’s Aubane Sheila, and Section P was won by Franki Jarvis with Obi Dazzled, owned by Lisa Rogers.
Katharine Connell and Sidnifigant in the BE80(T) Section M
Congratulations to all the riders who competed at Horseheath (1), we will be filming again at the next one in August, so let’s hope for another fantastic weekend filled with glorious sunshine. As an (April Fool) edict was issued that "Anyone not in a decorated hat will have to ride as an egg head without a silk for the XC phase” for this event, we'll hopefully have some fun footage coming up!
Article by Jess Johnson
Did you smile at the camera 
The familiar colours of Felicity Collins riding Iede CVN in the PwC BE100 Section C
