Our spring sponsored rider update!
It’s that time of year again, where we scour social media and the governing bodies websites for updates on how our sponsored riders are getting on as they head out and compete. Here’s the latest round up, and don’t forget to follow our riders on social media and show them some love – we all know how much a friendly message can pick us up on a bad day or make a good day even better! Let’s get started:
Holly Richardson
Just like every other event rider up and down the country, our sponsored rider Holly Richardson has had a rather disrupted start to her season, with Oasby, Northallerton and Richmond all falling victim to the very wet spring. Thankfully, Holly has managed to keep her horses in great form with schooling, show jumping and dressage, and we’re delighted to update you on some of her results.
Holly’s top horse Bally Louis ran in the 4* at Burnham Market International back in April and did a super dressage, with some unlucky poles down show jumping and cross country time penalties dropping them down the leader board. We know Holly will learn lots and be thinking ‘onwards and upwards’, the duo is back in action at Bishop Burton again this week. Holly also scored a 5th place on Madame Revolution TCE in the Novice at Aston-le-Walls with a superb double clear. We’re so excited to see how this horse progresses with Holly on board and they also head to Bishop Burton over the bank holiday weekend.
Melissa Chapman
Our dressage supremo Mel is always so busy competing, teaching and running her fabulous camps that it makes us rather tired just looking at her social media feed!
Mel recently headed to Yorkshire Riding Centre with four horses, riding several tests on each. She started the day with superstar TCE Mind Over Matter who was tackling his second and third mediums, coming away with the top spot in both! Then the four-year-old Oakley NL won his prelim with 73%+ and tackled his first ever novice with a win and 70%, Mel is so impressed with how this horse grows in maturity every time he has an outing. Mel was then in action on Fred and Rachel Bowles’ Valdi 111, who won the novice qualifier, grew in confidence beautifully through his tests and showed lots of quality. Finally, Mel partnered Bentley, owned by Zoe Huxtable, for his first outing to compete in the novice sections. He did a couple of superb tests for a good score to take second place after Oakley and Mel was delighted.
We were also excited to see that Melissa and her stable event rider Holly have been asked to do a dressage demo at this year’s Bramham Horse Trials. They are on between the 4* dressage tests on the Thursday lunchtime of the event, and we can’t wait to watch! Finally, Mel has two stunning advanced dressage horses currently for sale, so if you’re in the market for a new dancing partner, you know where to head!
Sara Bowe
Just like Holly, our other sponsored event rider Sara has been on the weather rollercoaster this spring and seen events being cancelled left, right and centre. Sara did manage to sneak in a run right at the very start of March at Epworth, scoring a top-10 position in the BE100 with Concorado. Since then, she’s been in action at Lincolnshire, Thorseby Park, Breckenbrough, Kelsall Hill, Bradwell Park and Floors Castle – a great number of runs for such a disrupted season! Most recently she scored a third place in the Novice at Frenchfield with MHS Global Cooley and will be heading to Bishop Burton to contest the young horse classes with Rinwood MJ.
Hannah Barker
Our young show jumping sponsored rider Hannah Barker has had her main focus on her A Levels which she is currently studying hard for so we wish her all the luck in her exams! She has still managed to fit in some occasional competing on Annie who has been going very well jumping round both 1.20m and 1.30m tracks! We can’t wait to see her out and about once her A levels have been finished!