International Dressage - wow, what a start to the month - India and Eddie (Escade) were selected for the Young Rider Team to represent Great Britain at the European Championships to be held in Pilisjaszfalu, Hungary.
This resulted in India, Verity and Serina leaving Witham Villa in the early hours of Wednesday 5th July for a journey in the horse box that took us through 6 countries and over 1500 miles, arriving at the showground on Saturday 8th July. Eddie travelled so well, with overnight stops in Begium and Germany.
Once at the showground he settled into the stable well, alongside the other three British horses. With plenty of Union Jack bunting and a great poster with each of the horses and riders against the GB flag you could tell the Brits had arrived. The humans set up their own camp with the horseboxes forming a quadrangle for the marquee. Our Chef d’Equipe, Tom even mowed the grass!
The Official Opening Ceremony was held with a great party atmosphere,
All of the horses passed the trot up in style and we were then onto the Team Test Competition which fantastically resulted in a Team Bronze for Great Britain - congratulations to Lily Laughton, India Durman-Mills, Jessie McConkey and Annabella Pidgley. This was the first Young Rider team medal since 2005.
In the Individual Competition India and Escade finished in 18th place out of the 54 riders, resulting in them qualifying for the Freestyle class on the final day. They came 15th in the freestyle with beautiful music produced for them by Julie Geraghty of Equivisions. Lily finished in 19th place in the individual.
Fellow Brits, Annabella Pidgley finished as European Champion in both the Individual and Freestyle competitions posting personal best scores. Jessie McConkey finished in 13th place in the Individual and 9th in the Freestyle.
Once the competition was finished it was time for the long journey back home, but with such great memories and achievements. This is India’s first year at Young Rider level and we are thrilled with the start they have made and are looking forward to seeing their progress from here on. They are currently ranked number 23 in the Young Rider World Rankings
British Dressage Sports Science Day - Verity and India attended this day as part of continued professional development, with India riding Izzy in one of the practical demonstrations. A really interesting and inspirational day. Looking at The Power of Positive Thinking, Women in sport, Horse Biomechanics and more.
The Summer Holiday programme is in full swing with special events available to book on ECPRo
Dressage Training Serina and Verity have continued training with Kate Cowell and enjoying the progress being made by Bertie and Gaya respectively.
Transport - Verity began training for her HGV license and Certificate of Professional Competence, passing all of the theory tests in July ready to start the practical lorry training in August
Dressage Day Camp and Clinic - Verity’s monthly camp and clinic was well attended with an enjoyable and informative day had by all. This camp is available to book either on your own horse or a Witham Villa horse, via My Riding LIfe
Staff and Liveries Summer Party - we were lucky with the weather and had a fun pizza and wine evening. Great to have a chance to chat and catch up without any horses to interrupt!