CHNPC NEWSROUND - Cheshire Hunt North Branch of the Pony

www.cheshirehuntnorthpc.com
CHNPC NEWSROUND
16th April 2014
AREA TEAM INTEREST
We are in the process of organising training for those members who expressed an interested in
representing the branch at Area level this year. The list of disciplines, and those interested, have been
posted on the website. If you would like to be included please email loulie.secker@btinternet.com as
soon as possible.
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 The Dressage selection evening is on Friday 27 June from 6pm at the Crown Field, Goostrey.
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 The Show Jumping selection evening is on Tuesday 1 July (coursewalk 5.30pm) at Smallwood
Livery Centre.
 Eventing team selections are made based on this season’s results. To this end please make sure
you email loulie.secker@btinternet.com with your results whether BE, PC or unaffiliated. Please
include dressage, sj and xc scores as well as final placing.
 Tetrathlon teams are selected from those representing the branch throughout the Triathlon and
Tetrathlon season. If you are entering a competition, do let Joan know so that teams can be
drawn up.
 Polocrosse teams will be selected based on attendance at practices and performance both in PC
and UKPA competitions.
If you have any questions regarding eligibility please see the relevant discipline rule book or email Loulie.
Inter-Hunt Relay
at the Warrington Horse Show
Monday 26th May at Tabley.
Height of fences 2’6”. Only the bold and
brave need apply. If you would like to
take part email
sarahhodgson@hotmail.co.uk or text
07969 008998
ANNUAL CAMP 2014
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Tuesday 22 July – Saturday 26 July
Berriewood Farm, Condover, Shrewsbury SY5 7NN
For members 10 years and over (age as 01.01.14)
£210 per person, including meals, tuition and activities
COME AND JOIN IN THE FUN!
We have a few spaces left, so if you would like a place at
camp, please complete the form attached and send with
your deposit of £60 (per rider or per family if more than
1 member coming to camp), to Anna Sherry, Hunters
Moon, Hollins Lane, Antrobus, Cheshire CW9 6NL.
MEMBERS’ NEWS
E, D, and D+ Test Successes
Congratulations to all our members who have successfully passed their achievement tests:
E Test: Verity Sellers, Isabelle Amoore, Hannah Burrows,
Ebony Briggs, and Sarah Wilson.
D Test: Layla Briggs, Lana Booth, Sophie Sellers
D+ Test: Ella Booth, Keira Booth, Daisy Such, Hannah Pedley, Charlotte Sellers, Anna Hill, Ruby McEvoy and
Claudia Jones
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Triangular Dressage, 6 April 2014 – Southview, Wettenhall
After an extremely eventful morning of swapping tack and 10 minute warm ups due to a forgotten girth, It is
safe to say that the Cheshire Hunt North dressage triage team at Southview did themselves proud!
In the novice Leah Connor on Brendis was third and Lucinda Bellis on the aptly named Lucinda B was 4th both
with scores in the 70s. In the intermediate
roles were reversed with Lucinda coming 3rd
Millie Darlington riding beautifully into 4th
with her new horse Berti, while Leah took
5th place. Our fourth member Cara Nash
made her dressage debut on her new pony
Simon overcoming first time nerves to score
65.6 in the novice and just one mark lower in
the Intermediate.
A great start spurring Cheshire Hunt North
into 2nd place overall in this fiercely
contested triage competition between East,
South and North Cheshire branches.
Top honours going to East.
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Musical Ride Auditions, 6 April 2014 – Huntersgate, Byley
Following this year’s auditions we are delighted to announce the Musical Ride Team 2014:
Lucy O’Toole, Kiera Booth, Daisy Such, Ella Booth, Zoe Hill, Layla Briggs, Ebony Briggs and Philippa Meachin.
They are all very excited to be part of the ride and are looking forward to the practices, the costumes, the
music and the competition itself. They hope you will be able to support them as they set about fundraising to
help pay for the costumes.
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Easter Egg Hunt & Fun Rally, 7 April 2014 – Huntersgate, Byley
We woke after a very wet night to grey skies and more
rain forecast, so decided to move the Easter Fun Ride
from Marbury Park to Huntersgate. This involved a
major change of ridden activities from the hack planned
to party games on
horseback. Thank
you Maia for
thinking of and
planning all the
games used.
Everyone was
split into two
teams and all the activities gained points towards the Easter Challenge.
Maia led one team and our other helper Nic Mann the other. We had
various games on horseback including musical jump wings (like musical
chairs). This involved a great deal of very competitive riding towards the
end as the number of wings rapidly reduced. Next it was time for the
mini/major relay jumping in their teams. Riders could choose which
height to jump and then had to high five the next team member in the
start box. After some fast jumping with great turns Nic's team won this
part of the competition.
Then it was time to put the ponies away while the
eggs were hidden. Plastic eggs were used with points
on them. Each person could only pick one up at a
time and race back to their team leader. It's amazing
how quickly 50 eggs can be found when chocolate is
at stake! Further party games like the wheelbarrow
and egg and spoon races took part with lots of
encouragement from team members. The most
popular game was definitely eating the mini eggs
from the plate of icing sugar without using your
hands. Soon it was time to count up the points and
whilst it was very close the team winning the Easter
Challenge was Maia's team. Of course, everybody got
Easter Eggs though. The last activity was the Easter
Bonnet parade and there were some fabulous hats.
The winner was Zoe Hill.
Well done to everybody who came and joined in the activities - you all tried really hard, supported each other
well and hopefully had lots of fun. Thanks to the parents for their help with jumps and big thanks to Maia and
Nic for all their hard work.
Footnote from Joan – thanks to Sarah for overseeing the fantastic Easter activity. Thanks also to Nicola and
Maia for running the event. Maia planned this activity for part of her YELA Silver Award, (Young Equestrian
Leaders Award). If you would like to work towards a YELA Award, and are over 13 years, contact Sarah
Hodgson for more information.
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Beach Ride, Ainsdale Beach, Southport – 11 April 2014
We set off to Ainsdale Beach with lots of excitement. It was a lovely sunny day. At first we all went on a ride
together to get our ponies used to the beach. Some of them were excited. Sally Hayward gave us lots of help
and led us all off. We came back to the horseboxes and split up into two groups – the canter group led by Sally
and the trot group, with some lead reins, with Hilary. We had a lovely ride splashing in and out of puddles and
going into the sea. The best part is when we saw the ice-cream van. We all had a lovely picnic in the sunshine!!
Thank you to all the helpers – Sally and Eleanor Hayward and Hilary Secker – and of course our ponies.
Daisy Such
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Dengie Show Jumping Championships, Moreton Morrell – 12 April 2014
I was really excited to go to the novice showjumping final
at Moreton Morrell! I was worried at the size and
number of jumps packed in the arena, but we got round
the course with 12 faults plus time penalties. One of the
jumps was the postbox jump from the Olympics.
However, we did win the best turned out prize and won a
lovely numnah! This was a nice surprise, but I had put a
lot of work into getting him white!
Hannah Fallon
Congratulations also to Georgina Blackshaw, Emmelia
Davidson-Slack and Annabel Carthy who all competed in
the Dengie Open Show Jumping Championships later the same day. All three rode brilliantly and were a credit
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to the branch. Well done Georgina who came 6 and Emmelia who came 8 .
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Dengie Dressage Championships, Moreton Morrell – 13 April 2014
I woke up on Saturday morning feeling really excited about my weekend
away at the Dengie Novice Dressage Finals. I had qualified Jezz in the Novice
class on Sunday and I was also part of the Cheshire Hunt North quiz team
too! After a long journey down to Warwickshire College we settled Jezz
down in his stable and got everything ready for our night in the wagon. After
tea we watched some very impressive show jumping in the indoor arena,
including some members of Cheshire Hunt North, who all did really well.
Sunday morning dawned a lovely bright and sunny day. Mum and I (well
mainly mum!!) spent the morning making Jezz look beautiful! I had an early
time, so before I knew it were were in the arena doing the test. I was really
pleased with my result and ended up finishing in 11th, just missing out on
the placings. It was an emotional day for me as it was my last ever
competition on Jezz but it was an amazing achievement and I would love to
do it again!! Olivia Rodgers
Congratulations also to Leah Connor who had qualified for the Dengie Open Dressage Championships which
took place later on Sunday. Despite the wagon breaking down on route, Leah managed to perform brilliantly
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and finished in 10 place; an excellent achievement in such strong competition. Well done!
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Dressage to Music, Moreton Morrell – 13 April 2014
If I told someone I had to get up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning to compete they would probably think I’m
mad – if I then added that this particular Sunday was my birthday they would think I was completely barmy.
But then, they probably don’t love Dressage to Music like I do.
This is why at 8:30am (having scrubbed, plaited and generally
beautified my horse) we made the trip down to Morten Morrell for the
Baker Tilly Intermediate Freestyle Dressage to Music, which ran
alongside the Dengie Dressage finals. I had to write my own test to
include certain set movements and sort out the music myself. Actually,
my brother (the talented Jonjo Secker) completely composed and
recorded my music track to accentuate Lara’s paces.
Lara herself was impeccably behaved and tried her heart out, so we
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walked away with 73% and 7 place in very strong company. It was a
lovely sunny day, and I was overjoyed with my horse so I can’t imagine
a better way to have spent my birthday. Thank you to everyone who
helped me get there, but especially to my brother for doing such a
cracking job with the music.
I would really recommend anyone with even the smallest enjoyment of dressage to give Dressage to Music a
go. Currently there are only a couple of us in the branch who regularly compete in Dressage to Music classes,
which is a great shame. It’s a really enjoyable way of doing dressage and while the idea might seem a bit
daunting, we’re happy to help anyone who is interested.
Hilary Secker
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The NFU Mutual National Quiz Final, Moreton Morrell – 13 April 2014
Our quiz team of Georgina Haywood, Maia Hodgson, Kate Pedley and Olivia Rogers won the Area 5 Quiz last
month qualifying for the National Quiz Final. After some more excellent training sessions with Sarah (and
obviously lots more cake!) the date of the final soon came round.
The Quiz Final was held at Warwickshire College, Moreton Morrell. A total of twenty-eight Branch and Centre
teams competed, including teams from Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland. Once the Team
Managers were briefed, the competitors settled down and the Quiz got under way led by Quiz Master Mrs
Marilyn Boardman.
The quiz consisted of 8 rounds of questions and topics including The Pony Club, The Stable Yard & Tack Room,
Mountains, Rivers & Lakes, Missing Words, Practical Round (Individual), Grooming, Clipping & Trimming
(Pairs), Picture Round and War Horses in History. A Power point display ensured that competitors, parents and
spectators were able to view the questions as they were read out, followed by the answers once all answer
sheets were handed into the scorers.
The team got off to an excellent start with a lots of ‘we‘ve covered that’ and ‘they should know that’ coming
from Sarah. It was a pleasure to watch the girls as they quickly and confidently answered the questions.
By half-time the girls were flagging and very nervous about how well they had done. During the lunch break
the half-way scores went up; the team went to look and returned with huge smiles on their faces. They were
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lying in joint 3 place on 105 with Hampshire Hunt, just behind Chipping on 109 and Fife Hunt on 106. After
lunch it was time for the individual practical rounds where each team member had to identify a variety of
items. As all the teams returned to the hall it was clear that they’d found that to be a most testing round! Lots
of ‘didn’t know half of those’ and ‘that was tough’ could be heard as the teams returned to their seats!
The picture round was the penultimate round and the one where our girls achieved full marks. So all that
reading of Horse and Hound, Your Horse and Pony Magazine from cover to cover, for hours and hours and
hours, and identifying the famous show jumpers and eventers, paid off and it can now officially be called Quiz
revision! Well done girls!
The final round was the War Horse round; again some very tricky questions were asked but the weeks of
learning about Bucephalus (meaning Ox Face!), Marengo, General Seely and Chief Sitting Bull must have sunk
in as the team had another good scoring round.
There was then a nervous wait for the results
to be announced. They began with 10th place;
by 7th place the girls were looking hopeful; at
5th place they looked desperate; at 4th place
we had all given up hope. But then announced
in 3rd place, Cheshire Hunt North! The girls
were presented with beautiful rosettes and
head collars before being whisked away for
professional photographs. Well done to
Chipping who won with 244 points (they have
finished 2nd for the last two years), and to
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Llangeinor who came 2 on 234.5, just 1½
points ahead of Cheshire Hunt North. The
Centre winners were Lavant House Stables
who also won in 2013.
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A huge well done to Georgina, Maia, Kate and Olivia for coming 3 at the NFU Mutual Quiz final and enormous
thanks to Team Trainer/Manager Sarah Hodgson and to Anna Sherry for coaching the team so well.
Thanks also to the NFU Mutual for sponsoring the National Quiz and providing the lovely rosettes and prizes.
Julie Pedley
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Pony Club Race Day, Bangor on Dee – 16 April 2014
The race day was held at Bangor Racecourse and was a Sir
WWW pony club event. Cheshire Hunt North was represented
by James McMahon. It started at 11am with activities such as
Equiciser and learning how to tack up ponies for racing. Carrie
Ford and Jo McCain along with Ruth Hurley were teaching.
There was a 5 card race - James race was the first for Novice
128cm and under. They had to weigh in and had number cloths.
James race was over 4 furlongs (half a mile). James rode like a
pro and Sammy gave his all to come 5th out of 6. Unfortunately
Sammy is no racehorse and could not keep up with the little
blood ponies but they had a ball and will be doing more !!!!!
Sara McMahon
Achievements galore for branch members!
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It was a very busy day, Thursday 17 April, and an extremely successful one for our older members.
Firstly, we had 2 members taking their C+ test at Kelsall
Hill. Annabel Carthy and Xanthe Goldsack had prepared
well for the test and although a little apprehensive, they
were so well turned out and looked ready for the task
ahead. Both girls had attended the selection day for the
Rider Development Pathway earlier in the week and are
now waiting to see if they have gained a place at the
training camp later in the year. Liz Lyonette was the
Chief Examiner for the C+ test, assisted by branch
instructor Rob Gilsenan. They both were impressed with
the standard of both members who passed with flying
colours. Well done girls!
On the same day, we had 3 members taking their B test Horse and Pony Care in Wales. Millie Darlington,
Georgina Blackshaw and Victoria Jones had all worked hard studying for the test and were well prepared.
They were all put into the same group, which gave them all the confidence to shine. All 3 passed and we were
delighted to hear the news. Well done girls; we are so proud of you. Thanks to Fiona Cayzer for training the
girls and preparing them for the day. Millie has now achieved her full B test.
For sale
Tredstep brown leather gaiters. 14” calf, 16” length. Brand new. Worn once. £20. Tel Rob
07857662380.