Bristol-based event rider Polly Tucker, of PRT Eventing, shares her news and views… We spent much of the last few months gearing up for September’s Gatcombe Festival of Eventing. Both Blue (Blue Rangoon) and Sky (Skywatch) performed brilliantly, and it was my first time at a one star with two horses – that’s a lot to organise. I will tell you some more about how we got on in my next column! I was also excited to qualify for and take part in the Pony Club National Eventing Championships in Open Eventing at Draycott Manor; Blue performed his best ever test, lying in the top six after the dressage and then moving into the top four after a faultless clear round. Third place overall in the open individual section looked within sight; however some tack issues and muddled-up warm-ups meant we dropped to a disappointing 12th; but 12th nationally isn’t bad, eh? So our aim is to better our placing next year. My youngster Fred has been a star, and was placed in his first ever competition recently –third and fourth at a local derby show jumping class; soon after, he entered his first eventing competition – a BE80 at West Wilts in September, where he performed well.
He’s coming along very nicely and is still only six, so we are introducing everything gradually and making sure he enjoys it. With Bertie (Dispol Bertie), Wendy Barke’s talented ex racehorse, I had a lovely first outing at Ascott Under Wychwood. We competed in the Retraining of Racehorses BE90 qualifier; Bertie produced a lovely dressage test and had two unfortunate poles down in the show jumping. In the XC, we just had a slight misunderstanding at a combination! But overall, we were very pleased with his first event, and he just needs more competition experience. My spirited loan horse Skywatch and I recently took part in the BE100 open at Stockland Lovell – he did a lovely test, although it was a little harshly marked, in my opinion! He was a bit rocket-like in the show jumping, taking a few poles down, but made up for it with a quick, careful clear XC round – although we got time penalties for going too fast! Oops. However, it was a good experience and he learned lots. Soon after we competed at West Wilts, this time in the BE100 open class, coming a very respectable fifteenth. I continue to use my RS-tor rider safety aid when schooling or competing in unaffiliated XC events – I feel so anchored to the saddle, especially with a spirited horse like Sky! See www.rstor.co.uk
For more information about Polly visit http://prteventing.weebly.com
