Equestrian Life July 2016 Edition
The leading regional magazine for the East Midlands and Northern Counties. Aimed at the competition rider at both unaffiliated and affiliated level across a wide range of disciplines.
The leading regional magazine for the East Midlands and Northern Counties. Aimed at the competition rider at both unaffiliated and affiliated level across a wide range of disciplines.
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PREVIEW<br />
Rebecca Vertigan returns for the<br />
Equestrivan Showing Championship<br />
this year.<br />
the track. He then got passed<br />
from pillar to post and never<br />
really succeeding at anything,<br />
although this was through<br />
no fault of his own,” explains<br />
Katy. Coco’s current owner,<br />
Julie Brocksby, has owned<br />
him for three years but had<br />
done very little with him so<br />
asked Katy to take the ride<br />
last year. “Coco needed a<br />
job and I had just retired my<br />
horse from competing. We<br />
started to get on really well<br />
and Coco was loving doing<br />
something so I asked if I could<br />
do a few unaffiliated dressage<br />
competitions,” continued Katy.<br />
“He was pretty highly strung<br />
so I thought my first year with<br />
him would just be getting him<br />
out and about and seeing the<br />
world.”<br />
After attending some local<br />
dressage competitions and the<br />
pair aimed for the Trailblazers<br />
Championships. “I never ever<br />
thought I would get here in our<br />
first year competing. I myself<br />
have never really competed in<br />
dressage so I’m over the moon<br />
we have come this far and I<br />
am so excited,” said Katy, who<br />
now has Coco on full loan. “I<br />
just can’t believe this horse<br />
has come from nothing to<br />
competing at Stoneleigh in the<br />
prelim class, all within a year.<br />
Thank you for making this<br />
happen with holding such an<br />
amazing event”<br />
RIDERS RETURN<br />
Having enjoyed the<br />
championships in previous<br />
years, many riders make it<br />
their aim to qualify and return<br />
to compete at the finals year<br />
after year.<br />
Rebecca Vertigan, from<br />
Leeds, has qualified for the<br />
Equestrivan Ridden Cob finals<br />
on her horse Flame.<br />
This will be the pairs fourth<br />
time at the championships,<br />
Rebecca tells us, “The feeling<br />
you get when you compete at<br />
Stoneleigh Park is second to<br />
none. I am so excited to get<br />
back in the ring to do some<br />
showing and hopefully, also<br />
enjoying the well-designed<br />
workers course! I am keeping<br />
my hopes up for some good<br />
weather to throw in the mix<br />
too!” Continues Rebecca. “We<br />
made some lovely friends when<br />
camping last year. It makes you<br />
feel special to have qualified<br />
and to have the opportunity to<br />
ride there.”<br />
Victoria Turner, 17, from<br />
East Yorkshire, has qualified<br />
for the Dodson & Horrell<br />
Senior Preliminary Dressage<br />
Championship finals on her<br />
horse Rubik’s Cube. Victoria<br />
has owned eight-year-old<br />
Rubik’s Cube for five years and<br />
has produced her herself. The<br />
pair compete in all disciplines<br />
and are active members of<br />
Holderness Hunt Pony club. “I<br />
first qualified for Trailblazers<br />
in 2015 in the Junior Prelim<br />
Victoria Hill returns for the<br />
Dodson & Horrell Dressage<br />
Championship.<br />
dressage, my dressage<br />
instructor Jo Wilson suggested<br />
I have a go. It was our first<br />
time at Trailblazers and I was<br />
really nervous but we had a<br />
great time, the rosettes were<br />
really nice and the goody bag<br />
was brilliant”, said Victoria,<br />
who is a student Bishop<br />
Burton College studying<br />
Level 3 Extended Diploma in<br />
Horse Management: Riding &<br />
Teaching. “I’m really looking<br />
forward to going to Trailblazers<br />
again this year, it was a really<br />
friendly atmosphere and a<br />
fantastic venue”.<br />
The SEIB Trailblazers National<br />
Championships are the<br />
culmination of the hard work<br />
put in by every amateur rider<br />
that has qualified through the<br />
two rounds of qualification<br />
competitions at over 65 venues<br />
throughout the UK. Riders<br />
compete at the level they wish<br />
in Showing, Show Jumping,<br />
Dressage and Combined<br />
Training. There is no joining<br />
fee to become a Trailblazers<br />
member or horse registration<br />
required.<br />
First round qualifiers have<br />
already begun for the<br />
2017 SEIB Trailblazers<br />
Championships, so don’t miss<br />
your chance to join in with the<br />
action.<br />
MORE INFORMATION<br />
Further information on the Championships, to find your local<br />
venue, or for further comprehensive details of the Trailblazers<br />
series, please visit www.trailblazerschampionships.<br />
com. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/<br />
TrailblazersChampionships, or contact our team in the<br />
Trailblazers central office on info@showdirect.co.uk.<br />
Competition at more<br />
than 60 venues<br />
in Dressage, Show Jumping,<br />
Combined Training,<br />
Showing and<br />
Working Hunter for<br />
enthusiastic riders<br />
Find out more at:<br />
www.trailblazerschampionships.com<br />
Photos by Real Time Imaging<br />
www.equestrianlifemagazine.co.uk 13
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