Clubbers follow olympians (From This Is Wiltshire)

Clubbers follow olympians

3:21pm Thursday 28th August 2008 in

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A team from the VWH Hunt Pony Club held off many of the best young riders in the country at the 2008 National Pony Club Championships, which have been the starting point for many of our Olympic riders including Beijing bronze medallists Tina Cook, Mary King and William Fox Pitt.

The championships took place over five action packed days at the new venue of Draycott House, in Derbyshire.

They staged the finals for Intermediate and Open level Pony Club Members across five of the major disciplines including Dressage, Showjumping, Eventing, Mounted Games and Polocrosse, and nearly 1,800 riders made it there after coming through qualifiers held across Britain.

The VWH team topped the Horse and Pony Intermediate Show Jumping Chamionship, where they finished on a two round total of 12 faults to find themselves in a tense jump off with the Cumberland Farmers Hunt (South) team from Cumbria.

'In the jump-off all our team went clear but two of the other team had four faults, so we won what was a very exciting competition,'' said the vwh Joint District Commissioner Pamela Ormond.

Highworth's Kimberley Mallett and new member Alice Buck both had just one fence down through the competition, on the 15.2hh dun My Centrefold and the 14.2hh pony An Capall Laith.

They were joined by Fernham's Alice Edgedale, 12, who was having her last ride on the little 13.1hh pony Ashley Prince, now being passed to younger brother Rupert, and Highworth's George Dibble, 16 and second in the 2007 dressage finals, on Fleet Action.

George was also on the ninth placed Open Dressage Championship team this time, along with Harriet Quint, Danielle Dunn and Lydia Rogers. Lydia, 14, from Oaksey, was also equal first in her arena on Little Jasper and was thrilled with the result.

An Avon Vale Pony Club team finished fifth in the Champion Headwear Open Dressage Championship, one of the toughest finals at the week long event, where the standards are remarkably high.

Dauntsey School pupil David Doel, 15, was also placed fourth individually in his Arena on the 15.2hh skewbald gelding Pick and Mix, a new ride owned by Emma Whitehead. David, who was on the winning Avon Vale event team at the Championships in 2006 and was third in the dressage finals last year, was very pleased with his new partner who scored a fraction over 68 per cent.

Lucy Ryan, 14, was eighth in her arena on her championship debut, riding the 15.2hh bay Arkad, one of the younger horses at the finals.

The team was completed by Corsham 19-year-old Jessica Waldron, on her black horse Ferrari. Also on the winning event team back in 2006, and Beth Stoneham, 14, and at King Edward School, who was making the move up from intermediate level on her 14.2hh piebald Maximillion.

Club mate Elie Still, 16 and at Stonar School, finished third in her arena of the Mitsubishi Motors Open Eventing Championships on her partner of the past year, the 15.2hh bay mare Rock Chic.

The pair jumped an excellent clear over the cross country course, considered more testing than last year, and one show jump down cost them just one place, as wet conditions meant clear rounds were hard to come by.

An Avon Vale team, Beth Stoneham, Alice Manister, Jessica Chivers and Charlotte Gould, also finished fourth in the Horse and Pony Intermediate Show Jumping Championship.

Beaufort Hunt Pony Club's Alicia Hawker was fifth in her arena of the Intermediate Eventing Chamionships on Seren Goch, at just 14hh the joint smallest pony in the section and Ridgeway Pony Club's Chloe Hall was 6th individually in the Intermediate Dressage Championships on Maisy May, with club mate Chanel Dublin earning a 7th on Dublin Mist.

Devizes rider Grace Warden, from the Wylye Valley branch, was fourth in her arena of the Intermediate Eventing Championships on the 16.1hh horse Dawn Catcher.

n Tetbury-based American rider Clark Montgomery, was second at the Blair Castle International Horse Trials in Perthshire.

He finished just over one mark behind Portuguese rider Duarte Seabra on the eight year old grey gelding Raconteur. He would have scored a clear win but for two down in the final show jumping phase.

Lechlade's Chris King was third in the CCI*** on The Secret Weapon. Lower Stanton St Quintin's Kitty Boggis was just .3 of a mark behind him on Boondoogle.