Ballavartyn Equestrian Centre September 2020
Autumn season is now fully underway. On Friday 4th September we welcomed junior riders to our unmounted Showjumping workshop. The event was run by members of Ballavartyn committee including Jen Crennell (course builder extraordinaire), Amy Heap (BV Showjumping Judge), Nicki Waddington and Di Dale. The workshop was designed to teach junior and novice riders all about taking part in a showjumping competition including how to walk a course, etiquette within the warm-up arena, timings and British Showjumping rules. The event concluded with a Hobby Horse Course jumping fun competition and lots of laughter. We really do hope everyone took something away with them. If anyone has any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the BV committee. The committee email is committee@ballavartyn.com
Tuesday 8th saw the return of the evening showjumping. As autumn draws in, we were back to running competitions in the indoor arena at Ballavartyn. Many of our unmounted workshop participants took part in this first competition, good to see their new knowledge but to the test with some serious concentration faces whilst course walking. There were some lovely rounds ridden. A big well done went to Ruby Corkish who came off the lead rein to try the course by herself. For the seniors it was great to see Lizzie Lennon back jumping Django Moonshine and taking the wins in both the 80cm and 90cm classes.
Next up came evening dressage on Wednesday 16th. We had good entries, which saw us run until 9pm, with some new juniors competing for the first time, it was nice to welcome them. Alisha Blower rode a beautifully considered test, to take the win in the intro class along with being the highest scoring Junior at the event. Another stand out Junior was Lily-Jo Hampton winning both the junior prelim and novice on her new ride. It was great to see our own Wadsy turning her hoof to dressage and taking the win in the Senior Prelim Class (we will turn you into a dressage diva yet Nicki). Finally, it was lovely to have 2 of the Priest sisters (Libby and Kate) competing in the Elementary, Medium and Advanced medium classes.
Saturday 19th saw a quieter event due to the busy equine weekend. At BV we ran both British Show Jumping Association affiliated and unaffiliated classes in the outdoor arena to make the most of the fantastic weather. In the juniors Emilie Saabye Katkjaer impressed on her pony Mill Leat Alice and it was lovely to see Jenny Forbes riding affiliated classes on her ride Gingerbread Running Man and it was great to see Jo Priest and Brit in action in the unaffiliated classes.
Back into the indoor Arena for clear round show jumping on Tuesday 22nd September with a busy event. A big well done to all the juniors who came and had a go or those who have even started moving up the levels.
Saturday 26th saw a return to dressage at BV and we were lucky to see some lovely tests ridden by both junior and seniors. In the junior section we saw Ruby Corkish riding Conrhenny Butterfly as the highest scoring jnr. Also winning her intro test. Jayne McGee and Feldstern had a good morning taking the win in prelim 2 and 3rd in prelim 19. Rebecca Baggs was competing her 2 youngsters Kiki Dee and Mellor Brooks and they took wins in both the Novice 22 and Elementary 45. She had both horses entered in the Novice 37a and managed a 1 & 2. There really was no beating her. Finally, Jane Hathersich-Jones and her ride Cuzelma won both the Medium and Advance Medium tests.
Tuesday 29th saw the last of our September events with evening showjumping. It was great to be busy with our young riders again at this event. A special mention to Tiger France and her 14h pony Hanleen Sparks Fly who tackled their first 1m10cm class! At BV we love seeing the progress of our juniors and seeing partnerships develop between jockey and pony is a joy to watch.
We thank everyone who both competed and spectated at our September events and our upcoming events include; Arena Eventing on Sunday 18th October, Halloween Fun Show on Sunday 25th October and our October dressage competition on Saturday 31st October. We look forward to welcoming you to these events.