Southern Horse Magazine June / July 2016 | Page 46

British Scurry &Trials Driving Sponsored by ADW Media At the Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials Report by Jane Hendy Tiff lights up at this point, the crowds really lift her. One by one we were then called in to do our run, some superfast times were being achieved and the crowds that had gathered in the stands were loving it. Our turn next, last but one in the running order, I knew that Alison had just gone into the lead and she would be very difficult to beat as Tommy is so fast and consistent and they are the current Single Pony Champion after all! 1 Our introduction into Scurry and Trials was last July when I went to watch my great friend and fellow Scurry & Trials Driver, Alison Dascombe compete at Cirencester Park. Having no idea about the rules and regulations, I felt it was imperative to go and meet the organisers, spend a day with them learning all about the sport and helping Alison as a groom. Something I would recommend to anyone considering taking part in something new for the first time. Having been absolutely hooked there and then, I took Tiff to a one day trial last Sept at Bowood, so there would be no pressure and I could see how it all comes together. A wise move in hindsight as Scurry & Trials is very fast and sometimes the space we have allocated at the shows is so tight, we are on top of each other in the holding pen! So the 2016 season came around and I signed up to compete at Hampshire Living Fairs show, which went really well. Tiff was placed in every class, narrowly missing out on a red rosette a couple of times by less than .3 of a second! She seems to love the crowds and really raises her game when they shout and cheer. The organisers love this! I was then very lucky to get selected to drive at Chatsworth International Horse Trials. My dream has always to been to compete here as I heard it was spectacular. So, I set off early on the Friday morning with a four hour trip [email protected] up to the Peak District ahead of me. As if the views weren’t breath taking enough, the Golden Gates that greeted us at the entrance to Chatsworth were magnificent. Having settled Tiff into her surroundings, I then got chance to watch the dressage and show jumping and rub shoulders with Mary King (well not quite but I saw her at the ice cream van! ) Everyone else from the Scurry and Trials team started arriving over the next few hours, so it was fantastic to meet up with friends and make new ones too. I must admit to being totally shattered from the drive up so it was an early night for me and up early the next morning. The weather on Saturday was beautiful, very sunny and started to really warm up throughout the day. Having walked the cones the night before, I wanted to just go back and check my lines again as the show jumps were still in the ring from the previous day thankfully they had been moved so I could really study the course I wanted to drive Tiff and mark it out properly. At 3 pm we were given the call from Ivor Williams, BSTD organiser, that we had an hour until our convoy of 15 drivers were to weave through the park and down to the colleting ring about a mile and a half away. This was a little bit hairy in places, as the lead car needed to stop the oncoming vehicles, warn the eventers, and not run over the public!! However, this went very smoothly and we drove straight into the main arena to do our parade. I took a diagonal line across the arena as Tiff was really on her toes and driving too close to the spectators would have fizzed her up even more, we then turned left at the bottom of the arena, the buzzer sounded and we were off! Cones 1, 2 and 3 drove well and it was a sharp left hand turn into obstacle 1. Tiff galloped all the way through the gates, keeping rhythm but accelerating out of the corners, the carriage was really sliding. My back stepper Patrick did a super job of keeping the wheels on the ground! We cleared cone 5 and then took off across the diagonal for the slalom of 4 cones and a very sharp right hand turn into obstacle 2. Again we really attacked the approach and drove straight and fast across A, B and C with a very sharp 360 degree turn into D and straight out through E. Tiff does turn very tight and stays in a rhythm but our rhythm broke a little as Pat had to jump the carriage around because we got so close to E I could have kissed it! I must have had my lucky pants on again as the letter E fell off the gate but the ball stayed up !! It was then another sharp right to cone 8 which was a right to left weave through A,B and C – a massive gallop then up to 9 and 10 and very sharp right turn again through 11 and 12 which were slightly offset so needed to be on a good line for these two and then over the finish line. It wasn’t until I got back into the collecting ring for the prize giving that I realised we’d won and just pipped Alison and Tommy by less than .5 of a second. Because the adrenalin was flowing I didn’t hear the commentator’s or the crowds clapping and cheering, I just had a big beam on my face from knowing Tiff had just given me such a super round. Page 46