MG Reports

Wow!! what a week we had with our senior Mounted Games team competing at the New Forest Show for three
days in a very tough competition.
They rode two sessions a day collecting points to get them into a good position for the final on Thursday
which were double points.
They rode every session really well and very accurate only missing two hand overs in over 40 races,
we came 3rd in all five sessions leading up to the final which was very good for us as the first two
teams were excellent and both had competed at Horse of the Year Show in previous years.
The pressure was really on us for the final as there were only a few points between us and Petersfield for
third place, Petersfield were pushing us hard and it all came down to the very last race, we had to finish in front of
Petersfield, we gave it our all and pulled off an or some five flag race just finishing ahead of Petersfield securing us a
brilliant 3rd place overall, this was a fantastic end to a brilliant week of very tough competition.

One thing we really gain from these competitions is learning how to cope with pressure and I think this week really
proved that with all the events we have attended this year we have learnt to stay calm and cope with pressure when needed.
Well done to:-

Michaela Wilson riding Becky
Annie Blair riding Sasha
Gemma Thieme riding Amber
Rachel Chambers riding Topsy
Oliver May riding Danny.

Sadly for two of our members this was to be their last MG competition, Michael and Annie will be too old next year, both
have performed brilliantly over the past years and will be sadly missed in the team.

Thank you to all our members and parents who came along to support us, is was lovely to see you there and the team
really do appreciate your support.

Thanks,
Mark

Hi All

Our Junior Mounted Games team were competing at the weekend at Hurtwood Polo Park, this
was a competition run along side a charity fund raising day for Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance.
On arrival we were faced with this very large immaculate Polo pitch which we were going to ride on,
and I think our team were feeling a little nervous.
We were using the competition as an experiment to try some different rider/pony combinations before
we head off to the championships in a couple of weeks so we were not sure how things would turn out.

Once we got started the nerves seem to disappear and after the second race we were out there having
fun, they all rode brilliantly and our new combinations and running orders appeared to work out fine.

Our Juniors have proved to be a very accurate team this year, not taking too many chances and after 9 races we
had won 6 of them, came 2nd in two of them and only really messed one race up, which is excellent.
This was a great day and we finished seven points ahead of the next team, bearing in mind three of the
teams there will also be at the Pony Club Championships.

Well done to

Chloe Day riding Derek
Elysia Geeves riding Topsy
Ella Hopwood riding Barley
Sam redding riding Millie
Phoebe Armstrong riding Molly

Mark

Our Mounted games team were out competing again on the very wet weekend of 10th & 11th of June
at the Banwell friendly competition near Bristol , Somerset.
After arriving on the Friday evening putting tents up in the pouring rain and sorting penning out for the
ponies, it was a very pleasant surprise to wake on Saturday to a lovely sunny day.
We had taken two teams our senior A team consisting of Michaela Wilson, Annie Blair, Gemma Theime, Oliver May, and our
Senior B team of Lucy Blair, Jessica Stephens, Chloe Day and Elysia Geeves. Chloe and Elysia are juniors but I was short of
seniors so they agreed to join the team.
For the B Team this was going to be a big test for them, they had never ridden together as a team, also Elysia
was riding Topsy, Rachels Chambers pony which she had never ridden before.
They all did very well against some very touch competition, I was totally amazed by our two Juniors, Chloe and Elysia, Elysia had found a perfect match in Topsy and rode brilliantly and Chloe stayed so calm when the pressure was on.
Lucy and Jessica also rode well but both their ponies were in cheeky moods making it very difficult for them. They finished the weekend in 17th Place, which
was always going to be touch for them but I think they learnt a lot from the experience.

We did not have our full A Team out and this was to be Gemma's first ride with the A Team, Gemma rode really well and considering this is her first year in games, she has become a strong member of the A Team.
Michaela, Annie and Oliver also rode brilliantly in the heats getting them into the B finals on Sunday, they just missed the A final by 3 points. The final on Sunday proved to be the hardest final we have ever ridden in, the rain had returned in full force, almost horizontal towards the end, also the competition was fierce as teams are all now on the run up to the zones next weekend.
We finished in 12th place, which was a great result considering the conditions and competition there, with everything packed away soaking wet we headed for home to worry about it the next day.
We had a great weekend and I was very glad to see know one gave up on competing in such difficult conditions, and thank you to all parents for sticking with it.
Well done to you all and good luck at the zones.
Mark

Another great day for our Senior Mounted Games riders, we took two teams to Santolina riding stables for a friendly competition on Monday 10th August.

Our A Team took first place for the fourth year running and our B Team came 3^rd, the B Team also took 2^nd place in the tack and turnout.

Congratulations to our Senior Mounted Games team who took part in a demonstration competition against five other teams at the New Forest Show.

Two of our team members were on holiday so we asked two members from the Petersfield Pony Club to join us.

This was a truly fantastic week for them all and to ride in front of such a large croud proved to be extremely exciting, this seemed to lift there performance and after three days and six sessions we came forth overall, just missing 3^rd place by one point.

SC & SH Mini's v Santolina July 2009

2nd Place

Four of our Mini members were competing in a lead rein mounted games competition at Santolina Stables in Wokingham

The seniors rode really well but were very unlucky in a tie break against Bisley PC for third place to qualify for the zones,finishing in 4th place.

Well done to Natalie Ward, Sasha Brooks, Michaela Wilson, Holly Edwards and Georgie Harrison.

Our Juniors had a great day, they also had to ride a tie break for 2nd place, again against Bisley PC, but this time luck was on our side and we finished in 2nd place qualifying for the zones in July.

On a lovely sunny Sunday morning in March we took our Senior Mounted Games team to Poole in Dorset for a pre-area friendly competition against 11 other teams from different areas.

We had been training through the winter months indoors at Clouds riding stables, but it is a completely different experience outdoors in a competition and we were up against some very experienced teams.

Again this year we had formed a new senior team with two new members who had never competed at Mounted games before and we were trying out some new ponies.

We made a good start to the day by coming 3^rd in the tack and turnout competition, which is always very rewarding after all the hard work of getting ponies and tack clean.

After the parade we got off to a very steady start in the first few races, the new members were getting used to the experience of competition and beginning to appreciate how hard it is to remember all the rules for the races.

Half way through the races we started to relax and realized that we may not be as fast as some of the other teams but if we were accurate we could collect some good points.

For our first outing this year we proved we do have some great skills and can build on the experience, after 8 hard races we finished a very creditable 10^th and we all had a very enjoyable day.

For our second outing this year we took our senior team to the Wilton Pony Club near Fordingbridge in the New Forest, we only had four members for this event as one was away which always makes it hard to run a team.

After the usual tack check and parade we started our races and again got off to a slow start but made a couple of heat finals and picked up some useful points.

From the fifth race onwards we seemed to step up a gear and we were looking very strong, qualifying for every heat final. In the mug and flag race we were so fast and accurate that this gained us some well earned points towards the final score.

Towards the end of eight races, I think our team had realized how much fun mounted games can be, especially when you start to win races and they had done enough to secure a fantastic 6^thplace against some very good teams.

This was another really great day for us, we do have a lot of fun at these competitions and I can’t wait till the next one.