A look back at a season to remember for our sponsored riders!
A look back at a season to remember for our sponsored riders!
Our brilliant stable of sponsored riders have kept us busy cheering them on this season, with five-star cross-country rounds, national championship appearances and exciting young horses giving us plenty to get excited about for the future. It’s safe to say we’re bursting with pride at their achievements this year, but we also know that the results only tell part of the story. Behind every competition result are the early starts, hundreds of hours of training, weather upsets, firm ground, changes of plan and teams of people helping to make it happen.
Now that the clocks have changed and the summer season is firmly behind us, we’re catching up with Mel Chapman, Sara Bowe, Lucinda Atkinson, Holly Richardson and Jemima Stratton to celebrate some of their highlights.
Mel Chapman
Anyone who follows Mel will know that fitting as much as possible into a day is something of a speciality for her. For example, on one day at Northallerton Equestrian Centre this summer Mel rode 12 tests on six different horses, across 10 different tests, seven straight classes and three different music tests. And she remembered them all! We’re tired just reading that and will forever be in awe of Mel’s energy (and memory for dressage tests).
There’s been plenty to celebrate beyond Mel’s work ethic and memory. At Northallerton’s Summer Regionals, TCE Godieta’s Mind Over Matter took third in both Advanced Medium Gold and Prix St Georges Gold, while TCE Royal VDH finished third in Novice Gold.
In September Mel headed to the National Championships at Somerford with four horses. Among the highlights was Week Orchard Gorgeous George’s sixth place in the four-year-old championship, scoring 75.8%, including an impressive 8.4 for his walk. This young stallion is definitely one to keep an eye on!
Away from competing, Mel’s been bringing on her homebreds, coaching, holding her coffee and cake mornings, running TCE Camps and appearing on TV! Eagle-eyed viewers will have spotted Mel and her team in Coldstream Equestrian’s Behind the Stable Door series on Horse & Country TV. It’s a lot of fun seeing what goes on behind the scenes, so make sure you catch up if you didn’t see it first time around.
Sara Bowe
A first four-star long is a huge milestone, and Sara and Rinwood MJ, known at home as Max, achieved exactly that at Bramham this summer.
The pair finished 22nd in the CCI4*-L, giving both horse and rider a successful first completion at the level. Their week included a personal-best dressage performance, a frangible-pin penalty cross country and just one rail in the final showjumping phase. So much to be proud of after tackling Bramham’s demanding track! They had already given us a taste of what was to come in the spring, winning the Advanced Intermediate at Lincolnshire on their dressage score of 32.3 and we’re excited to see what Sara and Max can do next season.
There were encouraging international results for other horses in Sara’s string too. Captain Morgan GZ finished tenth in his CCI2*-S section at Alnwick in July, while Vesper Lynd gained her first international experience at Scone Palace, finishing 24th in the CCI1*-Intro.
Lucinda Atkinson
Watching young horses grow in confidence and work their way up the levels is one of our favourite parts of following our sponsored riders, and Lucinda’s team has given us lots to enjoy this summer.
South of Scotland Horse Trials proved a particularly good outing. PRF Made in England, aka Lily, finished second in the Intermediate, while Lark De Triomphe, known as Bear, made her Intermediate debut a successful one with sixth place.
PRF Sing Hallelujah, or Hal as he’s known in the stable, added a double clear and third place in the BE100 to round off a very productive weekend. Hal kept the good results coming with second in his BE100 section at Frickley in August. We’re enjoying following this partnership!
There was also a special moment for Lucinda as a breeder when Ann Earle’s four-year-old Donanyika qualified for the Burghley Young Event Horse final at Bramham. Having bred Derek herself, taking him to Burghley was an amazing milestone and made us so proud. The pair finished 19th in an incredibly strong contest, and we’re excited to see what this young horse goes on to do.
Holly Richardson
Imagine getting a horse both clear and inside the time at both the 5* cross-country tests in the UK? Our sponsored event rider Holly and Ballyneety Silver Service (Butler at home) certainly know how to give us a cross-country round to cheer about!
Butler’s Badminton debut ended with 27th place after an excellent clear inside the cross-country time. The showjumping proved costly, but that Saturday performance gave another exciting glimpse of his ability at five-star.
At Burghley in September another superb cross-country round, two seconds inside the optimum time, lifted Holly and Butler from 28th after dressage to third overnight. Five fences down in the final phase left them 15th overall, but there was still so much to celebrate in their performance and lots to look forward to! Holly also completed Burghley with Bally Louis in 25th, finishing with no showjumping fences down. Bringing two horses through a five-star is an achievement in itself, and Louis’s return following injury made his completion very special indeed.
These results came during a challenging summer for Holly, who returned to riding after serious knee and leg injuries sustained in a schooling fall in May. We’re pleased she was able to get back to doing what she loves. A big string of younger horses has been keeping her busy and scoring some excellent results, with Just Jumble taking sixth in Belsay’s CCI2*-S and Ballymolloy Roscoe finishing 20th in his CCI3*-S section at Cornbury.
Jemima Stratton
The return of Wiltshire-based event rider Jemima’s top horse Global Exotic after an injury lay-off was a big part of the season, and it’s been lovely to see ‘Joey’ back out competing.
Their Bramham CCI4*-S finished with Jemima choosing to retire across country when he wasn’t feeling quite himself, following a clear showjumping round. As every horse owner knows, sometimes the best decision is to save things for another day.
There were some rewarding results to follow. In July, they finished fourth in the Open Intermediate at Upton House, adding just 2.4 cross-country time penalties to their dressage score. August then brought 15th in Scone Palace’s CCI4*-S on 42.5, an amazing result for the partnership.
Elsewhere, Jemima recorded four double clears and two top ten finishes in a day at Aston-le-Walls - we imagine the champagne was uncorked that evening! She also headed to Osberton, finishing 31st in the CCI2*-L with KPCM Hugo Boss and 19th in the CCI1*-Intro aboard six-year-old Edentrillick Casandro.
We’re proud to support all five riders through successes, frustrations and everything in between. Thank you to Mel, Sara, Lucinda, Holly and Jemima, and to the owners, grooms, families and supporters behind them. We’re already looking forward to following their winter training and seeing what next season brings!