An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Stratford Hills - find out more here
Despite the enormous amount of rain that fell across the UK in the week leading up to the Stratford Hills Horse Trials, the venue refused to give in and managed to run the event with the ground being the best it has ever been. The course was challenging and technical, travelling up and down hill and in and out of woodland, providing an excellent opportunity for an educational day out.
The BE100 Section A was won by Myles West on his own Hatrick II who Myles says is a “lovely horse to have on the yard, really easy which makes a nice change as I have lots of breakers and difficult ones!”
Ollie Martin, who won the BE100 Section B on his own MIH Gladiator, told Myles that the time for the cross-country course was tight so he kicked on and almost ended up with time faults for going too fast! Myles is based on the Surrey-Sussex border and has a string of show-jumpers and eventers out competing, with several having qualified for national championships.
The BE100 Open Section C was won by Caroline Bridge on Eldyno, Section D by Iona Sclater on Foxtown Cufflynx and Section E by Susie Eddis on Cashelbay JJ, all owned by their riders.
The Intermediate Novice Section F was won by Nat Dixon on Anna Czylok’s Curolea Mika. Nat also came fourth in the same section on Killags Clover Blade owned by Susannah Raby. The Open Novice Section H was won by Kate Walls on her own Sir Perirose.; Kate was also riding another of her well-known horses, Cooley Lands, who is competed at higher levels by Chris Burton, in the Intermediate Novice
Gracie Lovett Brunt was delighted with Jamakin Faer Trial, a horse usually ridden by World Champion Ros Canter, 2nd in the Open Novice
Francis Whittington won the Novice Regional Final Section F1 on Brother Bertie owned by Sarah Arrowsmith. Francis also came third in the same section on Monbeg Malvo owned by EquiMatters and fourth in the Novice section G on Adrenalin II owned by Samantha Whittington.
Francis Whittington and Monbeg Malvo
Felicity Collins took the win in the Novice Section G on Iede CVN, who was bought from Ben Hobday last winter, and is now owned by Caroline Crowther. Felicity is clearly very fond of this ‘straightforward’ horse
“It was only his second Novice and we call him Mr Perfect as he basically is! I’m used to quite tricky horses and, despite his hate of water buckets being anywhere near him, he’s straightforward yet has the added bonus of being very talented so he’s a lovely horse to ride”
Felicity also had the ride on Nina VH who came 11th in the same section and is co-owned by Vicky Collins and Avrina Milton. She hopes to aim both horses for the 6-Year-Old championships at Osberton. Felicity is in her last year of Young Riders and is on the Team GB long list. She has a number of 4* and 5* horses so she is looking forward to a busy but exciting rest of the season
Ada Marson won the BE90 Section H1 on Cynheidrefawr Dylan owned by herself and Jane Marson. BE90 Section I Katherine Smith won Section I on Holme Park Kudos and Isabella Stagg won Section J on Quite A Compliment and Section L1 was won by Maggie Tyrrell on Petlin Jessica, all ridden by their owners.
Isabella Stagg and Quite A Compliment
BE90 Section K was won by Joanne Watts on her own homebred 11-year-old Darc Legend, affectionately known as Lewis. Joanne tells us that “He has successfully competed British Eventing, competed at the Mitsubishi Motors Cup three times and also accumulated points at British Showjumping and British Dressage. He is a regular member of the teams for Carleton Riding Club and recently qualified for the nationals at Lincoln later this summer in the open dressage team. He is a gentleman to ride and is a very careful jumper”
Joanne has been riding since she was a child and says she was been very lucky to have the support of her parents and husband. Joanne’s mum taught her most of her riding and is always on hand for flatwork and jumping advice, and keeps Lewis fit during the week while Joanne is working. The team were thrilled with Lewis’s performance at Stratford Hills and were delighted with his dressage score of just 15.8, securing them the win by a margin of nearly 10 penalties!
Mary Edmundson won BE90 Open Section L on the five-year-old Carrickview Sunset owned by Dominic Branch and Stratford Hills was only this horse’s first ever event! Mary says she has had Carrickview Sunset ‘for a little over a year now’ and since breaking her in she has proved to have a lovely temperament and has been very straightforward to bring on despite being such a big mare.
“The cross country at Stratford Hills is so educational for these young horses as they have to cope with the hilly terrain and the cleverly sited fences. I wasn’t sure how my horse would cope but she went around like an old pro.”
Mary’s other ride, Junction Princess owned by Zita Foster, came second in the same class.
“She is a lovely mare by Kings Master and she also took everything in her stride, thoroughly enjoying whizzing up and down the hills. These two young horses will hopefully do one or two more BE90’s before stepping up to BE100 shortly”
“The event at Stratford Hills improves every year, they are always updating the courses and doing everything they can to ensure the best possible conditions for competitors. I look forward to coming back many more times in the future”
The BE80(T) Section M was won by Hannah Rix on her own Whisper and there was a lot of positive encouragement from the rider on this round, it was lovely to watch and you can enjoy it too in the video below! Section N was won by Anita Lenton on her own My Gleneven and Section O by Jenny James on her Eastern Mayfly.
Stratford Hills was a wonderfully educational event with lots of different questions for the horses to figure out and some really lovely trade stands. Having the scores in the same tent as the bar was a particularly good idea!
Article by Jess Johnson
