News and Results

28 April

Full results are now available here (MS excel file). For those who are interested, you can also download the instructions for the grids and bearings sections. Photos are available from www.brillpix.com

Individual score sheets and rosettes will be posted this week.  Prizewinners please contact Sarah on 07803 703 395 or sarah@white-horse-trec.co.uk to confirm arrangements for collection.

Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with this competition from course building to scoring, and well done to all competitors. Below the results is a selection of comments received after the event, most made anonymous.

The Brillpix Level 3 Individual class was won by Daniel Nolan, with Jackie Bennett in second place and Lynne Mabbit third.

The Performance Equestrian Level 3 Pairs class was won by Dave and Sheila Rogerson, with Ian Macalindin and Sheila Roberts taking second and Julia Izzard with Clare Reynolds third.

The Green Outdoor Leisure Level 2 Individual class was won by Jane Chivers, her higher POR score giving her the lead over Marie Metcalf who had an equal overall score. Third place went to Izzy France.

The Equestrian Life Level 2 Pairs class was won by Jane Williams and Sue Jones, second place went to Andy Chappell and Claire Pollard and third went to Di Skippon and Ali Large.

Compliments received after the event

Sarah Thurnell - "The club members and competitors and their friends and family were all brilliant at helping with judging, setting up, packing away etc - a first class team."

"I want to say a really BIG thank you for a wonderful weekend and great Trec competition... It was a pleasure to ride through the forest on Saturday - gorgeous weather, location and just lovely to be out and away from the grind of life and work. The dinner was lovely too on Saturday and the PTV loads of fun... so pleased the rain stayed away (or at least whilst I was there) and I just wanted to say that I can only imagine all the blood, sweat and tears that goes into something like that and to let you know how very much I appreciated it, as I know did all of us lot from the South East. You and your team of amazing volunteers were all just brilliant, so please do pass on all our very grateful thanks for all that they did and for giving up their precious weekends."

"I really enjoyed myself at the weekend - even though I did abysmally... but I learnt lots so thanks. Hopefully I'll do better next time!"

"Many thanks for a wonderfully run competition. Very well organised."

"Please could you pass on my thanks to all who organised and worked on the Trec, I had a wonderful time despite getting lost twice and my horse loved it too."

"Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for arranging the TREC - I really enjoyed it. It was one of the most enjoyable ones I've done and the PTV was great - we'd never done a drop jump before!"

"Thank you for a lovely weekend, it made it all worth while as if I had not had my operation I would have been in a wheelchair by now so although I did not do very well it meant so much to me just doing it. And sorting out the weather was clever as well."

"Many many thanks to all the helpers for a great event at a super venue in such a lovely area. It was well worth the long journey and good to meet up with everyone again. We realy enjoyed ourselves."

5 April

The WHTG team did brilliantly to qualify for this illustrious competition and did the club proud amongst very tough competition. Photos are available from Chris Lax.

30 March

Team Chase - hat cam!

Further proving their versatility (and possibly their insanity!), the TREC Chasers competed in the Fernie team chase on March 30th. The video from Julian Brown's hat cam is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVoiJH-YtsQ.

The running order was 1. Sarah Pollard riding Wendy, 2. Annie (a substitute for Anna Weston and Wiz), 3. Julian Brown riding Barney and 4. Daniel Nolan riding Tammy (WHTG member).

1 March

The Foremark reservoir car park was an ideal location for our POR practice day – a chance to practice map reading and navigation skills in a friendly and low pressure event.  The bright and breezy weather was ideal.

Two classes were held. One was for novices, at level 1 standard, using a 8.5 km route. The other class, for more experienced navigators, was at level 2A standard, using a 14.5km route and incorporated map references and an optional bearings practice.

On both routes there were unmanned check points (indicated by a sign containing the Checkpoint number and the speed for the next section of the route) and no compulsory halts at these unmanned checkpoints. Along each route there were also good and bad tickets to find or avoid.

Twenty three riders entered.  Several riders had never done a POR before, including one intrepid pair, who entered the level 2A class as first timers, and managed extremely well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the opportunity to practice, the venue, the attractive bridle paths, and the beautiful scenery in the locality.

WHTG members Larry and Marie South organised the event and Jackie Bennett and Mandy Morris kindly assisted on the day. Jackie carried out the tack inspection, and provided advice and answered many questions about getting trecing. She then rode the route at the end of the morning to ensure everyone found their way back.  Mandy Morris was starter and gave beginners advice and encouragement to venture out to explore the lovely tracks of South Derbyshire. Larry manned the bearings section and gave advice to the first timers (for bearings, that is) and to ensure everyone found their way back.

The good entry numbers meant that the White Horse Trec group were able to thank the two land owners (who gave permission for us to ride over their land) with a gift each, and to thank Severn Trent for the use of their car park and visitor facilities at the reservior, and their rangers assistance in organising the event. WHTG were able to donate £20 to the Severn Trent charity, Water Aid.

Marie and Larry South

25 February

Well done to all riders on the day, and thank you to everyone who helped with the competition in any way, shape or form from taking entries to packing up the course - we can't do it without a good team effort and it was great to see people new to the sport mucking in.

Results are now online here.

Unfortunately due to bad light on the day, photographs of the day are not available.

16 February

The top riders in the sport of BHS TREC and their partners attended the South Essex Insurance Brokers League Awards Dinner on 16 February at The Village Hotel, Coventry.

The BHS TREC League, sponsored by South Essex Insurance Brokers, runs throughout the year and is decided by the four best placings achieved by an individual or pair. British Horse Society Chief Executive Graham Cory presented some super prizes to the riders who, throughout the 2007 season, collected the most points.

The sport of BHS TREC was brought to the UK by The British Horse Society in 1998. The discipline developed from the skills needed for trail riding and is designed to tests riders’ navigation skills, control of their horse’s paces and the ability to tackle a variety of obstacles.

The individual level 1 & 2 title was closely fought, with just four points separating the top five placings. The award eventually went to Rachael Wilmot, who had a fantastic season, winning the 2007 Welsh Championship with her Fell pony Grindle. Rachael, who comes from Nottinghamshire, was rewarded with a stunning bridle kindly donated by the Worshipful Company of Saddlers.

Hilary Barnard scooped yet another title in the most demanding level of competition, securing the individual level 3 & 4 league. Bristol-based Hilary rode her two New Forest ponies Rhinefield Impulse and Harvey in events as far apart as Kent and Scotland.

Consistency paid off for Lynn Davies and Chris Paine who took the level 3 & 4 pairs title with two wins and two second places from just four outings. The Pembrokeshire-based pair were competing together for the first time in 2007.

Finally, the Level 1 & 2 pairs title was won by the ‘Cobtastic’ team of Julia Izzard and Clare Reynolds from Kent. This was a fantastic win for the partnership who were contesting the league for the very first time.

BHS Senior Executive, Competitions, Helen Owens said: “It was a super evening, with people travelling from all over the UK to attend, and we are very grateful to South Essex Insurance Brokers for their continued support of the league.”

You can see the full league results here.

12 February

BRC Area 16 Dressage, Trent Valley EC 10 February

Well once again the WHTG riders did us proud and gained team first place to qualify them for the Winter Dressage final at Hartpury on 5-6 April!

Team members in each test put up very consistent performances - Phillipa Archer and Ben scored 186 in Novice 27, with Ruth O'Keeffe and Double Dynamo only one point behind them on 185; Fiona Thurnell and Brilyn Bashful Barney scored 151 with Helen Henderson hot on her heels with 150 in Prelim 12. Due to unforseen circumstances we were unable to put forward our planned second team, but the club was also represented by Sarah Baldwin who rode Fortune Cookie in the Prelim to score 146 and Faye Henderson with Jigsaw, who scored 167 in the Novice.

Photographs of the day are available from Natural Expressions.

Results (excel file) available to download here - the results are as given on the day, however they are still subject to checking and confirmation by the Riding Clubs office at Stoneleigh.

Thank you to all the helpers who ensured the smooth running of this competition, and we wish good luck to Phillipa, Ruth, Fiona and Helen in the finals.