Badminton Grassroots 100

[jrp204]

Many congratulations to our Cornish rider Katie Hancock, won for the 2nd year in a row (on different horses). What a fantastic achievement.

 

[j1ffy]

Amazing! Well done Katie.

 

[dixie]

That's impressive 😀

 

[Mike007]

I honestly think the standard of horses and riders was superb .The dressage was split over a huge number of horses by only a handful of points. The showjumping was certainly tough enough too. The xc ,while it might not have fazed an experienced novice horse was a fair and challenging test for horses that could have no novice points before qualifying at the regionals.All this makes Katies achievement so much the greater.
We got home an hour or two ago. "A" managed a very creditable 31.0 in the dressage but had a pole down at the last fence (in the 100).I think the horse pecked rather than got the stride wrong. XC didnt go quite as planned .The technicality of fence 11 caught Florence (Aka Cruella) by surprise. Sadly this was the end of this years grassroots dream for us. "A" has now calmed down enough to discuss it philosophically,though it was a bit fraught immediately after.
On the brighter side ,apart from everyone returning home intact. "A" and Florence managed to get their picture on the BE Facebook page at dressage. I think thats pretty cool too.
Nick gauntlet said it well ,on his course walk . He said somthing along the lines of. A 4 star rider and horse can be fairly confident of a ride at Badminton. The grass roots riders are a select few out of thousands . Well done and a great achievement to even get there.

 

[LeannePip]

I honestly think the standard of horses and riders was superb .The dressage was split over a huge number of horses by only a handful of points. The showjumping was certainly tough enough too. The xc ,while it might not have fazed an experienced novice horse was a fair and challenging test for horses that could have no novice points before qualifying at the regionals.All this makes Katies achievement so much the greater.
We got home an hour or two ago. "A" managed a very creditable 31.0 in the dressage but had a pole down at the last fence (in the 100).I think the horse pecked rather than got the stride wrong. XC didnt go quite as planned .The technicality of fence 11 caught Florence (Aka Cruella) by surprise. Sadly this was the end of this years grassroots dream for us. "A" has now calmed down enough to discuss it philosophically,though it was a bit fraught immediately after.
On the brighter side ,apart from everyone returning home intact. "A" and Florence managed to get their picture on the BE Facebook page at dressage. I think thats pretty cool too.
Nick gauntlet said it well ,on his course walk . He said somthing along the lines of. A 4 star rider and horse can be fairly confident of a ride at Badminton. The grass roots riders are a select few out of thousands . Well done and a great achievement to even get there.

Sounds like although a disappointing end, it was a good experience for horse and rider and like you say a massive achievement to even get there in the first place! Will you be trying again for next year?

I walked the grassroots courses yesterday, struggling to remember what number 11 was? was it the skinny brush downhill to the two (VERY!) skinny roll tops?

 

[Mike007]

Yes that was fence 11.Florence couldnt figure the brush out at first but she did eventualy get over it but the second roll top caught her out. We are going to see how things go.The plan was to move up to novice but perhaps some more work is needed.

 

[jrp204]

Mike, congratulations to your daughter for taking part, she is obviously a very capable rider to be competing there.

 

[Mike007]

Mike, congratulations to your daughter for taking part, she is obviously a very capable rider to be competing there.[/QUOTE Actually she is the daughter of friends .They arnt horsey so I do the driving to events and suchlike.

 

[jrp204]

Actually she is the daughter of friends .They arnt horsey so I do the driving to events and suchlike.

Even more credit to her and to you.

 

[claracanter]

I'm sure one 4 star rider( can't remember who) was quoted as saying it's much harder and more competitive to get to Badminton Grassroots final that getting to the main event. So your friend's daughter should focus on how well she did just to be there. Fantastic.