Personal notes: British Young Horse Championships

Bruce Menzies and Sultan V

Old Lodge certainly had a good time at the British Young Horse Championships, Addington, winning two titles outright, one of which was the first eight-year-old championship hosted by the show.

Bruce Menzies won the class for them with reigning Horse & Hound Foxhunter Champion Sultan V and what a class it was. Bob Ellis
had designed a real jumping track, simply going flat out wasn't going to work. And it turned into an excellent piece of entertainment showcasing Britain's up and coming top horses. I was told Britan's team manager Rob Hoekstra had said that the top four could all be Nations Cup horses, which is very encouraging.

Shane Breen and Fahad II

Success had started for Old Lodge in the Equimat star of the future final, in which Shane Breen took the win on Fahad II. While the evening before, the team had bought four new horses at the Brightwells Stars of the Future sale, including the top lot: a five-year-old mare Lux Z x Narcos II mare. The sales results can be found here.

Laura Kraut took the seven-year-old championships with a class round on Joyce Williams' Winde III. She will be part of the USA team for this year's World Equestrian Games with Cedric.

Laura Kraut and Winde II

On the first day of championships, day three of the show, the weather was glorious. So hot in fact, that most people were seeking shade. Flash flood warnings started coming in, hardly believeable considering the temperatures we were having.

Unfortunately, the weathermen weren't wrong, but although it was grey with a few light showers, on the final day it seemed that the worst had passed through the night.

Nicole Pavitt and
Festiena van Texelhof

Nicole Pavitt headed the non-British bred five-year-old final with her mother Sandra and Lisa Tudor's Festiena van Texelhof and Pippa Funnell took the British-bred title for the age group with The Billy Stud's Billy Manhattan.

Rachel Connor won the non-British bred six-year-old title with Robert Maguire's Zidane VIII, before Georgie Crumley and Strijder IV jumped the only clear in the British-bred equivalent.

However, as the class is a HOYS qualifier, she had to jump the jump-off track in order to try for a Birmingham place. Right up until this point, the weather had held. But just as the course building team were finishing raising the course, the skies really opened up.

Georgie Crumley and Strijder IV
in the deluge

All credit to Georgie, she came in the ring and got her clear. I don't know how she saw the fences, the rain was so heavy. I got the pictures I needed and then retreated at speed to the judges' box.

In contrast to the day before, people were now running for cover from the rain. But the placed competitors still came in for their mounted presentation, while Rob Hoekstra and Addington secretary Pippa Holt suffered the elements to give them their rosettes.

There was still a consolation class to run and the rain started to ease off, but then a freak gust of wind swept over the show ground sending chairs and picnic umbrellas flying everywhere. None suffered more than Old Lodge though, whose marquee took off, turned upside down and then crashed back to earth.

A typical British summer. The Old
Lodge team have an awkward
deconstruction job!

Fortunately none of those hiding inside were hurt and the Old Lodge team saw the funny side, giggling away as they dismantled their giant "kite". But then, they had enjoyed a rather successful show.

The report on the show will be in next week's Horse & Hound.

For results click here.

Pippa Funnell and Billy Manhattan

Rachel Connor and Zidane VIII