16+ Camp (Area 13) - 23-26 July 2012

For those members who have passed their C+ test, 16+ Camp forms are now available for download from the Area 13 website or from the schedules section of this website. Please contact Gina Newman if you would like any additional information.

Unmounted start to 2012 with Tina Cook

Currant Olympic Bronze medallist Tina Cook is at Merrist Wood GU3 3PE at 7pm on 16 Feb to help start off the 2012 eventing season for Juniors with a bang!

Wylye Valley Triathlon results

On 15 January 2012 Chloe Day, Elysia Geeves and Sarah Woodward took part in the Wylye Valley Triathlon in Class 4 Minimus 8-11 yrs at Southfield House, Frome, Somerset.

Tetrathlon update

We are entering Biathlon, Triathlon and Tetrathlon Competitions. If you are interested in taking part in Shooting, Swimming, Running & Riding and would like to have a go at these events please email Stuart Geeves with your details (age at 1 January 2012, any previous experience of shooting a pistol, swimming, running, riding).

Mini Camp Dates now set

The Mini Camp will be held from 1 August to 4 August. Further details will be released later.

Fund raising events

Parents meeting/Table top sale

Saturday 25 February 2012 12 noon to 4pm
Finchampstead Memorial Hall - Entrance £1 adults

Mounted Games Study Day

A mounted games study day being held at Warwickshire College on Saturday 25 February 2012 (1pm start). This study day is a great opportunity to see teams practise Area and Zone Games for 2012, and is aimed at Members, Parents and Line Stewards.

Hartpury Polocrosse Day

We have been notified that Ledbury Hunt Branch is holding a Polocrosse Day (download details here) at Hartpury College Gloucestershire on Saturday 18 February from 10:00am to 5:00pm.

Polocrosse Training and Fun Session

We have been notified that Cheshire Hunt North Branch is holding a Polocrosse Training and Fun Session being taken by Tom Simkin (UKPA Coach) on Sunday, 22 January from 1:00pm to 4:00pm at Huntersgate, Byley, Cheshire, CW10 9LW.

Happy New Year!

The new provisional calendar for the start of 2012, including Quiz Training, is now available for download.

Branch Newsletters

January 2012 (issue 1/12)
November/December 2011 (issue 10)
October 2011 (issue 9)
September 2011 (issue 7/8)
July 2011 (issue 6)
June 2011 (issue 5)
May 2011 (issue 4)
April 2011 (issue 3)
March 2011 (issue 2)
Feb 2011 (issue 1)

Area Dressage Report- Sunday 7th August by Clare Kavanagh

On Sunday 7th August Staff College was well represented at the Area Dressage, Hackwood Park, Basingstoke. We had an intermediate individual, a novice team, a mini team AND a mini individual - all turned out beautifully.

Intermediate
Charlotte Barriff on Tommy was our intermediate individual and despite not having very long to warm up, she and Tommy pulled off a great test as always, finishing 6th in her arena on a score of 65%. She was really pleased as it was an improvement on last year and the competition is tough at this level. A big well done to Charlotte as she was competing mostly against horses on her pony!

Novice Team

The novice team consisted of Michaela Wilson on Mick, Camilla Cox on Topaz, Declan Kavanagh on Canon and Clare Kavanagh on William.
Camilla, Clare and Declan all competed in the warm up tests with a promising start, Camilla scoring 65%, Clare 73% and Declan in the 50s. They all felt that there was room for improvement so were positive going into the Area test.

After warming up again, Camilla was first in and did a good test, followed by Clare and Declan in different arenas who also produced good tests. They all felt they had improved from the warm up tests too. Declan was relieved to have it over with as Canon is not easy in the dressage arena but he managed very well and gave 100%. Clare was happy as she has only had her little horse 6 months and he is going better all the time. Camilla works very hard on Topaz and she felt she had done a good test, so was pleased. Last but not least was Michaela. This partnership have done some fab tests out eventing this year and again produced a lovely test with a great big smile from Michaela at the end.

We all waited anxiously for the scores but unfortunately they were not as we had hoped and we felt that the judging was very harsh. The team finished in 13th place which was mid-table and Clare finished 4th in her arena. Although the team was disappointed, they felt they had performed very well (despite the scores!). They have all trained hard and there was definitely an improvement in the way the horses were going from earlier in the year – everyone did their best on the day and did the club proud.

It was an enjoyable afternoon at a lovely venue!

Final scores: Area test
Camilla Cox on Topaz- 52.4% - 13th in Arena
Declan Kavanagh on Canon - 59.6% - 11th in Arena
Clare Kavanagh - 64.8%- 4th in Arena
Michaela Wilson - 58.8%- 11th in Arena

Mini Team

We also fielded a strong Mini team who again did us proud. They did really well, particularly as three out of the four hadn’t ridden at an area competition before and it was a big competition so quite daunting. We had one of our youngest members in the team too – Lucie Donnelly, so a big well done to her.
Everyone rode accurate, rhythmical tests producing good scores, a big well done to you all.
Final scores: Mini Dressage
Rachel Chambers on Chancey 67.9% and an excellent 2nd
Lucie Donnelly on Patsy - 65% - 6th
Tamsin Stamp on Roddy - 61.3% - 13th
Lucy Woodward on Coco - 60.4% - 14th

After our brilliant third place at the zones back in July our junior MG team consisting of Chloe Day, Elysia Geeves, Ella Hopwood, Phoebe Armstrong and Sam Redding were off to the Pony Club Championships for their final event of the year.

We all set off on Saturday 13th August to Draycott House in Derbyshire, on arrival we settled our ponies in their pens for the night and pitched our tents and after our evening BBQ we all set down for an early night.
The competition was divided into two sessions, twelve teams in each session, the first six teams in each session would go through to the A final, then the runners up would make up the B final.
Following our tack check we warmed up in the practice ring, we had been training really well but I think we all were quite nervous on this occasion and I noticed quite a change in our riding.
All the teams paraded before the first race started, the first three races did not go so well for us but then we rode an outstanding stepping stone race winning both the heat and the final.
After 7 races we had just done enough to qualify for the A final finishing in the first six, this was fantastic a result.

The afternoon session proved to be very tough and we still had not found our previous form we had showed throughout the year, however
after 8 races and a very hard weekend we had finished in a very good 11th place out of 24 teams.

This team has been amazing throughout the year and I will try and put this result into perspective.
They had finished 11th out of all the Junior teams in the UK, starting in May at all the Areas where hundreds of teams start out, we came second in our Area qualifying us for the Zones in July, here we came 3rd qualifying us for the PC Championships.

This is a fantastic result for this team, for four of our members this being their first year in Mounted Games and I very much hope not their last.

I would like to thank your parents for their weekly support at training and help at the weekends we have spent away, we have had a lot of fun on the way but MG is a real commitment and without their support it would not be possible.

A big well done to you all again, great result

Chloe Day
Elysia Geeves
Ella Hopwood
Phoebe Armstrong
Sam Redding
 

We hope you had a fun and successful day on Sunday. We were very fortunate with the weather and had a healthy amount of entries.

A huge thank you to all of you who helped to make the day a success.

We will let you know how much money was raised as soon as possible.

Photographs are available at www.digitalpicy.com

Thank you from all the Show Team

Show Results