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PONY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS - SPSS BLOG

The 2010 Pony European Championships is being held at Bishop Burton College, near Beverley, East Yorkshire from 27th July to 1st August.  The SPSS is a sponsor (see here for more information) and to make the most of our involvement, we've decided to keep a blog of the latest news and results both in the lead up and during the event. 

 

Read more below....

York Road, Bishop Burton

Beverley, East Yorkshire

HU17 8QG
     
29 July late pm The final event for the day was the first round of the Jumping Championships.  This is the first part of the individual competition and was against the clock with no jump off.  The course is a maximum of 1.0m high with a maximum spread of 1.40m. Nils D'hurl Vent ridden by Amy Inglis and Tixylix ridden by Jessica Mendoza both went clear to be 5th and 11th. The other Team GB ponies did less well, with Aroldo (Emily Roe) having 5 penalties for 33rd place and Abc Juri (Lara Whiteway) 8 penalties (38th place).  However, these scores are not taken forward into the team championship, so all teams start level tomorrow morning.

Nils D'hurl Vent and Amy Inglis at the Tuesday Vet Check
29 July pm The first part of the Eventing Championship, the dressage phase started well for Team GB.  At the end of the first session (so halfway through the competitors), Team GB riders, Grace Walker and Noble Springbok are in the lead with 46.9 penalties and Alfie Bradstock and Montezuma II are in 5th place.  These great results have left Team GB in the lead overnight with Germany and Italy in 2nd and 3rd places.  However, with 2 more riders for each team tomorrow and then the demanding cross county and final show jumping phases to come, the competition is still far from over!!

Noble Springbok and Grace Walker at the Tuesday Vet Check
29 July am

The morning it was the concluding part of the Dressage Team Competition and it started well with the 2nd and 3rd ponies to go in, Rembrant DDH (Maria van den Dugen, Nederlands) and Danilo (Jessica Krieg, Germany) getting the fantastic scores of 74.222 and 75.500 respectively.  Despite more good scores (3 more ponies scored over 70%) these early two remained in 1st and 2nd place throughout the morning.  Young (only 12 years old!!) Erin Williams was the first of today's GB riders and she rode with great maturity to score 69.556% with the German Riding Pony, Danny Boy B.  Our final rider, Claire Gallimore (age 16) and Team GB regular Gigolo were unlucky to break into canter in the first medium trot so lost marks there and then were cautious in the extended trot to prevent a reoccurrence - so also not a high scoring movement.  However, they did end up with 68.611% - the second highest GB score - and were key to the team lifting itself form the 9th place overnight to be 4th overall with 202.667 - less than 4 points behind Bronze medal winning Denmark.

 

The Gold medal winners were the Nederlands with a total of 221.222.  Germany took Bronze with a total of 219.000 - so under 3 points behind Gold. Denmark's Bronze medal winning score was 206.222 - and they were the only team to get all 4 riders into the top 15!  Individually, Erin Williams & Danny Boy B finished in 8th place, Claire Gallimore and Gigolo in 10th and Charlotte Gill and Ferrari in 24th so they all go through to the Individual Championship on Friday.  Charlotte Fry and Andexter were 37th but also have the chance to ride again in the consolation class on Saturday.

 

Also running during the morning was the first of the CSIP jumping competitions, a 1.10m class which was won by GB rider Millie Allen with Little Ryan.  Ella Popley (Midwest Star) and Sally Hopkinson (Cevin III), both also GB riders, were 5th and 7th respectively.  The following class was a 1.25m competition and was won by Swedish rider Katarina Bork with Lxus Justice with GB riders Jasmine Cain (Tireve Midnight Express) and Sally Hopkinson (Cevin III) 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 

Danish (Bronze), Dutch (Gold) and German (Silver) flags fly high

The results confirmed

The victorious Dutch team

Dutch lap of honour

All medal winning teams await the Dutch National Anthem
28 July

Today the only competition action was the first part of the dressage team event with the first 21 ponies doing the FEI Pony Team Test.  As well as the team riders, any individual riders also do this teat as it is the qualifying round for the Individual Championships on Friday - with the top 25 riders going through.  Riders who don't qualify for the Individual Championships go through to the Consolation Class on Saturday.

 

Neither of the 2 GB riders had an easy time - Andexter (an 8 year old stallion by Anjershof Rocky) carried on his over exuberant behaviour (see trot up report below!) but his rider, 14 year old Charlotte Fry, kept her cool and completed the test.  Both are still young and this will have given them valuable experience for next year.  The other Team GB rider today was Charlotte Gill with Ferrari (a former Danish team medal winning pony) who, despite not having as good a time as she must have hoped, still managed to score 64.5% and be in 10th position overnight.  The remaining team and individual riders are on Thursday morning with the Team Medals decided by lunchtime.

The all palomino German Team

The Dutch team
27 July eve All ponies having passed the vet check and having had their exercise slots in the various arenas, it was then the Opening Ceremony.  The riders assembled on benches within the ain Bishop Burton Arena to much cheering and flag waving and then once the VIPs had been seated, the riders all paraded around the arena, picking up their souvenir packs from the College Principal and the heads of the 3 ground juries.  Again, much flag waving and cheering.  A local brass (except it was possibly silver!) band then played through all the National Anthems - interspersed by - guess what - more flag waving and cheering!!  Once this part was complete, the event was declared open, the arena was cleared and the audience convinced to stay quiet for long enough to get the vaulters in and we were given a short display by a young local vaulter followed by the team picked to represent Team GB at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky in October.  Very impressive!  The event concluded with a display of 'extreme horse riding' including people on what looked like skateboards being towed across the arena by a galloping horse!!  Everyone then went off to enjoy a hog roast and band!

Team GB parade

Team GB Vaulters

Andexter and Charlotte Fry wait to trot up
27 July pm Then in the afternoon, the ponies were all trotted up in front of the official vet and their discipline's ground jury. Most ponies passed on the first 'run' but a few had to repeat - mostly due to their reluctance to actually trot!!  From the Team GB Dressage team, Charlotte Fry's Andexter was one of these and she did an excellent job to manage him and insist that he at least travelled in the right direction as he did an excellent impression of a rocking horse!!  Her Mum (Laura Fry) stepped in for the second run and, as she is considerably taller, she managed to convince him to trot! Only one pony, Sir Oscar, was sent to the holding box but he passed on re-inspection.  Sir Oscar is part of the Norwegian Jumping Quad and will be ridden by Merete Roed.
27 July am This morning was taken up with the measurement of the ponies. Although FEI rules state a pony is no more than 148cm, as they also acknowledge that height can vary with the amount of muscle (or fat!) that a pony has - or an excited pony can measure higher than when it is relaxed, they allow some leeway with a pony with shoes being allowed to measure up to 151cm.  At Bishop Burton, it was interesting to se them take the ponies into the measuring room in pairs and that they were allowed time to relax before being measured by two different people.  I believe that all ponies passed - certainly all the Team GB ones did!
26 July We arrive at Bishop Burton with the Display Boards to find the retail village being built with trade stands arriving and putting up thier tents all around.  Fortunately, the Bishop Burton Marquee is in place and  heir displays only partially set up, so we could get a really good spot for the SPSS Boards - at the back so in no risk of getting wet - but easily visibility to passers by - who will hopefully go in and view!!  The site looks fab - all the teams have decorated their stables, there are flags and tubs of flowers everywhere and the facilities (including accoodation) are fantastic.  Should be a great event.

2010 FEI Pony European Championships

at

York Road, Bishop Burton

Beverley, East Yorkshire

HU17 8QG 
9 July

British Showjumping announce the Jumping team to be (in alphabetic order):

 

Daisy Davis (age 16), from Bristol, Avon, with Shaun Davis's Future Interest, a 12 yr old Irish bay gelding.

 

Amy Inglis (age 13) from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, with Mandy Hall's Nils d’Hurl Vent a 9 yr old French bay gelding, by Quick Star out of Hera d’Hurlevent (by Boogie de la Gere). Amy is the daughter of British Senior Team rider Duncan Inglis.

 

Jessica Mendoza (age 14), from Chippenham, Wiltshire, with her mother's Tixylix, a 12 year old Dutch chestnut mare. Tixylix is already a double European Gold medallist in 2007 with her previous rider, Zoe Adams, and with Jessica won the German, Dutch and Belgium Grand Prix and Pony of the Year in 2009.  Jessica and Tixylix are the only members of last year's 5th placed Pony Europeans team to also be on the 2010 team.

 

Emily Roe (age 13) from Lincoln with her father's Aroldo, a 13 yr old British grey gelding. Aroldo was on the 2006 European Gold medal winning team in 2006 with Emily's sister Rebecca.

 

Lara Whiteway (age 16) from Preston, Lancashire, with ABC Juri a 17yr old NNFP (Dutch New Forest) bay gelding, by Valentino (NNFP) out of Sulastik’s Nadj (by Dukes Forest Oberon)

5 July The trophies for the highest placed Individual Mare, Stallion and British-bred pony in each of the Individual European Championships are delivered to the SPSS.  Fortunately we wont be responsible for displaying them at the event - as the picture shows - my efforts were somewhat wonky!!
29 June

British Dressage announce the Dressage team to be (in alphabetical order):

 

Charlotte Fry (age 14), from Driffield, North Humberside, with Mrs R Sherwin's Andexer, a 14.1hh 8 yr old bay stallion by Anjershof Rocky (damsire Wester Aikema's Robert).  Andexer was sold to Belgium at the 2006 Vechta Spring Elite Auction.

 

Claire Gallimore (age 16), from St Albans, Hertfordshire,  with Mrs J Gallimore's Gigolo, a 14.1hh 12 yr old chestnut gelding by Going East.  Claire and Gigolo were members of the 2009 team.
 

Charlotte Gill (age 16), from York, North Yorkshire,  with Mrs J Gill's Ferrari, a 14.2hh 12 year old chestnut gelding

 

Erin Williams (age 12), from Barlow, Derbyshire,  with Mrs C William's Danny Boy B, a 14.2hh 13 yr old chestnut gelding by Flying Dream

 

1st Reserve: Roxanne Shipley (age 15), from York, North Yorkshire,  with Mrs A Shipley's Best Shakomo, a 14.2hh 13 year old bay gelding by Black Boy. Best Shakomo was a member of Spanish Team in 2008.

 

2nd Reserve: Harriette Williams (age 13), from Harlow, Essex,  with her own Fijal Figaro, a 14.2hh 14 year old brown gelding by Peveril Peter Piper. Fijal Figaro is the only British-bred pony in the list and is a pure-bred New Forest pony.

 
28 June

British Eventing announce the Eventing Squad.  The team of 4 riders will be selected from the squad, with the remaining 2 will ride as individuals.  The squad is listed  in alphabetical order:

 

Sophie Beaty (age 14), with her own Done And Dusted VI, an 11 yr old gelding by Dusty Box.

 

Alfie Bradstock, (age 16), with Louise Hamilton's Montezuma II, a 9 year old gelding.  Alfie and Montezuma were selected as individuals for last years Europeans but withdrew after the dressage.

 

Sam Ecroyd, (age 13), with Penelope Ecroyd's Catherston Nutsafe, a 14 year old bay mare by Catherston Nightsafe out of Catherston Dauntless (by Dutch Courage).  Catherston Nutsafe is a SPSS Elite Graded mare and was a double team silver medallist with her previous rider, Ella McEwan, in 2008 and 2009.

 

Sophie How, (age 15), with Rachel How's Hotshots, a ten yr old gelding.

 

Harry Humfrey, (age 15), with his own Tantany Torch, a 16 yr old gelding by Vernons Tom Boy out of Burtons Sun.

 

Grace Walker, (age 13), with her own Noble Springbok, a 13 year old gelding by Kiltealy Spring out of Clorogue Lady.  Noble Springbok has an impressive Europeans record of individual bronze (2005), silver (2006) and gold (2007) medals and 3 team medals with previous riders Laura Collett (2005) and Libby Soley (2006 & 2007). 

 

1st Reserve: Emily Jane Ryder, (age 15), with her own Mr Moon, an 8 year old gelding.

 

2nd Reserve: Phillipa Hill, (age 14) with her own A Touch Of Spice, a 14 year old gelding.

 

3rd Reserve: Pumbaa Goess-Saurau, (age 13), with Susie Goess-Saurau's Killacoran Blue, a 10 year old gelding by Blue Smokey out of Carravilla Rose.
22 June New SPSS display boards arrive!!  Now we just need to fill them!
7 June SPSS banners are delivered to Bishop Burton and we have a guided tour around their fantastic facilities - and get to see the meerkats in the zoo!
February SPSS becomes a 2010 Pony Euros Sponsor - sponsoring a Cross Country fence and trophies for the Highest Placed Individual Mare, Stallion and British-bred pony in each of the Individual European Championships. In addition, all Ponies with an SPSS connection will receive SPSS Merit Awards.