Taking the course in her stride
Beth Hobden discusses a weekend of competing in Equestrian competitions.
Due to the impacts of Covid-19 and the requirement of being in the year of my 12th birthday, 2020 was my first year competing in a British Eventing event. Between national lockdowns, the organisation, British Eventing, managed to run a few Equestrian events for those wanting to qualify for the Area Finals in 2021. My pony, Beach Lady, and I were lucky enough to get an entry to one of these events, in which I competed in Show Jumping, Cross-Country, and my first long arena Dressage test. The event started with the Dressage round. Next, it was the Cross-Country round in which I walked a large and spooky Cross-Country course. There were 42 riders in my section and it was also a championship round, so, although I was hoping to be ranked near the top, I figured that achieving being placed around 20th would still be a fab result, so I tried my best and kept a positive mindset throughout. |
Luckily, the cross-country seemed to cause lots of trouble for other competitors, but I flew round; my horse and I were having a bit too much fun since we managed to pick up a few faults due to going slightly too fast! The last round in the event was the Show Jumping when I made four unfortunate faults for knocking a pole down.
In the event, I scored a respectable 29.9 in the Dressage, completed a Double Clear (clear in the first round and the jump off) in the Show Jumping, and I was also successful in Cross-Country, finishing in the top 20% in the whole event as a result. At the end of the event, the results came out and I couldn’t believe that I had placed third, my first time winning a podium place, and I was very honoured to achieve this result, especially as it was such a big event. What also made my win even better was that the venue was fantastic, too. My result meant that my pony and I had qualified for the British Eventing Area Festival Finals which were being held at Firle Park and this was an exciting achievement.
On the same day, I completed a second event with my other pony in the afternoon and we finished second in the British Eventing 80.
Overall, it was a brilliant day for my ponies and for me!
Beth Hobden, Y7
In the event, I scored a respectable 29.9 in the Dressage, completed a Double Clear (clear in the first round and the jump off) in the Show Jumping, and I was also successful in Cross-Country, finishing in the top 20% in the whole event as a result. At the end of the event, the results came out and I couldn’t believe that I had placed third, my first time winning a podium place, and I was very honoured to achieve this result, especially as it was such a big event. What also made my win even better was that the venue was fantastic, too. My result meant that my pony and I had qualified for the British Eventing Area Festival Finals which were being held at Firle Park and this was an exciting achievement.
On the same day, I completed a second event with my other pony in the afternoon and we finished second in the British Eventing 80.
Overall, it was a brilliant day for my ponies and for me!
Beth Hobden, Y7