JCB Championships Report

Well, where to start?! What a fantastic week our Flamstead riders had at Pony Club Champs this year, our results just keep getting better and better each year.

The week started for me with the 110 Show Jumpers on Tuesday. Our girls Isobel Morton and Kassius and Olivia Fisher with Stonehaven’s You Two were part of an Area 12 team, with Myles Mentiply-Johnson from the Vale of Aylesbury Pony Club on both of his horses. Myles got the team off to a fantastic start with a clear round the very big track on his first horse, followed by Isobel also jumping clear.  Olivia lowered one rail, as did Myles on his second horse, so at the end of the first round, the team were very well placed on a total of 4 (unlike the Olympics, we could drop one score!)

In the second round the fences were even bigger and the course more technical. Myles on his first horse, and Isobel both lowered one rail each, and Olivia lowered 2, while Myles picked up 12 faults on his 2^nd horse, so the team finished on a total of 16 for the second round, and a total of 20 faults for the competition, which left the team in 4^th place out of 15 teams. It was a very close competition, with the winning team finishing on 8 faults.

On Wednesday Erin Neale competed in the Dressage on Katasia SB. The lovely mare was a little tense at the start of the test, there is always a great atmosphere at Champs. They finished with a very creditable score of 65.42% leaving them in 17^th place in a huge section.

On Thursday it was the turn of our 100 show jumpers. The team of Maya Thon and Royale Mardi Gras, Erin Neale and Poppinghole Pyez, Isabel Goodman and Darragh of Newtown and Olivia Fisher and Stonehaven’s You Two had won the class at our qualifying Area competition, so we went with high hopes. They did not disappoint!  They jumped fantastic first rounds, and we went through to the second round on a score of 0 along with one other team. In the second round, Maya and Erin both had an unlucky rail, while Izzy and Olivia jumped clear, meaning we finished the competition on a score of 4 which left them in 2^nd place out of the 45 best teams in the country. Most years a score of 4 would be good enough to win, but the competition was extremely strong this year and we were more than happy to settle for 2^nd!

Isabel Goodman jumped off along with the 38 other double clears in the class, and flew around the course, taking some superb tight lines to finish an incredible 2^nd out of the 220 riders in the class. There may have been some tears of joy shed by our Flamstead crew.

Also on Thursday, Josie Reid trotted up her lovely Chilli Wednesday for the ground jury and then rode a very respectable dressage test for a score of 32, to leave her well placed after the first phase.

Friday saw the rest of the eventers start the competition, and Josie went cross country. She flew around the tricky cross country course, making it look easy, finishing well within the optimum time, to leave her sitting in 5^th place going into the show jumping phase the following morning.

On Friday afternoon our 100 eventing team of Erin (Poppinghole Pyez), Olivia Fisher (Stonehaven’s You Two), Holly Hudgell (Henry’s Best) and Hattie Goodman (Daragh of Newtown) completed their dressage and show jumping phases.

Olivia, Holly and Erin all produced super dressage tests to leave them very well placed in their sections. Unfortunately Hattie had to do her test just metres away from the cross country course, which her horse found extremely exciting and although he warmed up well, did not produce his best work in the test. Hattie did a good job to contain him in the arena and not let him run off to join the horses going cross country!

In the show jumping, Hattie and Erin both jumped clear, while Olivia had the last fence down, and Holly picked up a few more penalties, show jumping is Henry’s least favourite phase.

Friday night we enjoyed a fantastic BBQ, thanks to Clive Goodman for his superb cooking skills and to Katy for bringing the BBQ. Flamstead showed we not only ride well, but also do the social side brilliantly too!

On Saturday morning, The Chairman’s Cup finished their competition with the show jumping phase. It is very different show jumping the day after going cross country, the horses are usually tired and often don’t jump as well. They jump in reverse order, so Josie went into the ring towards the end of the class and the atmosphere was electric, with the commentator making it very exciting. There were very few horses jumping clear, and Chilli Wednesday & Josie had a rail down early on. They then jumped brilliantly until the last line, when sadly Beano took the final two fences and they ended up on 12 penalties. This left them just outside the top 20, but the scores were all very close, with less than a pole separating 10 places. It is so different jumping after you have been cross country, and not something Josie had done before, so I was still very pleased with this result. It was enough for her Area 12 team to take 2nd place in the Inter-Area competition and Josie also won Runner Up Best-Dressed.

On to the 100 team and their cross country. It was a very meaty, technical track, on undulating ground which can make the optimum time tricky to achieve. We walked the course twice, and all 4 girls knew the course and the lines they needed to take and how the combinations needed to be ridden. They all rode with determination, attacking the course and flying round. Holly was our pathfinder, setting off confidently, but unfortunately had a problem at two fences on the angle early on, but flew around the rest of the course effortlessly. The other 3 all posted super speedy rounds, Olivia and Erin flying inside the time, and Hattie just picking up a handful of time faults for being a few seconds over the optimum time. This was good enough to leave the team in 6^th place, which was a super result, and Olivia finished individual 4^th in her section, while Erin deservedly won hers with 3 impeccable phases!  Such a fantastic achievement for all our girls, we’ve not qualified a team for the 100 eventing before, so to get placed at the final was very exciting.

Thank you to everyone who came to support during the week. All our Flamstead girls rode beautifully all weekend, and did myself and the Pony Club very proud. Roll on Champs 2025 and some even more fantastic results!

Georgie x