By Annette Andresen
My journey to the Senior Inter-Regionals began with an offhand suggestion from my trainer, “shall we both try for Inter-Regionals? It could be fun!”. We had a look through the selection criteria and it seemed fairly straightforward – simply attend three BD-run training sessions and submit a record of your results over the last 12 months.
Training sessions done, we submitted our applications. I wasn’t holding out much hope as we’d not been out much due to weather, and our scores were stubbornly hovering around 67%. Teams were due to be decided on a Sunday and I anxiously checked email and the BD Central Facebook page all day, to no avail. I figured we hadn’t made it onto the team and started convincing myself that May is too busy anyway, it would be nice to have a quiet weekend…
Next thing I knew was the team announcement on the Monday and both my trainer and I had made the teams! Eek!! Huge excitement followed as I got my entry in and bought some team colours. However there was a spanner in the works as my trainer’s horse developed a niggling lameness and suddenly I was faced with the prospect of spending the weekend with the 19 other team members, only one of whom I had met before. It also presented a transport challenge as my trainer was due to give us a lift!
I headed to the team meeting, on a Wednesday evening at Cherwell, with some trepidation. I spotted the one person who I had met before and blurted out that I need a lift and a bed, she very generously offered me both! I then relaxed a little and focused on what would happen on the weekend, what I needed to do and, most importantly, meeting the other members of my team, Team Chardonnay. Thankfully they weren’t too scary, in fact quite the opposite – they were all absolutely lovely. Shirley, team captain, is an old-hand at team events and put us all at ease. We set up a team WhatsApp group so we could plan beforehand and make sure we all got there safely. It quickly became apparent that the team were fun as well as organised and focused (on prosecco).
The weekend quickly came around in a flurry of packing and preparation. I decided to get a transporter for my horse, Indio, which made life a bit easier and meant he could head home earlier on the Sunday. We arrived Friday afternoon and quickly got settled into our respective accommodation, met up with the other team mates and headed to the complimentary hog roast. I’m pleased to say that Team Central thoroughly defeated the other teams here, we were first in the queue with no other teams to be seen! Friday night consisted of eating, prosecco-drinking, and a brief meeting to discuss dos and don’ts and times for Saturday.
Somehow I slept ok on Friday night and we were all up early for the arena walk on Saturday morning. Indio seemed more focused on following the horse in front than on the arenas themselves! But he felt bright and cheerful and had clearly been lying down in the night (judging by the stable stains…). It was a long wait during the day, with plenty of time to get nervous watching the other Team Central riders!
Finally it was time to get ready and head to the warm-up. Team Central’s trainer, Levi Hunt, was ready and waiting for us and he was a huge help. Despite never meeting Indio or I before, he quickly got our measure and helped me to get him on my aids and off the forehand in just 20 minutes. I headed to the test feeling confident! However it wasn’t to be our finest hour – it had started raining an hour before and Indio felt very uncertain on the wet surface. I didn’t push him too much and felt quite disappointed, only to be pulled over by the judge at the end who thought he looked unlevel. I was very upset and became THAT team member who is in the stable crying into my horse’s mane!
This is where the team aspect came into its own. My team members quickly rallied round, shoved tea and chocolate cake into my hands and cheered me up no end. Eventually I braved the scoreboard and found the judge at C had given me 59% and the judge at K had given me 67%. Sadly we were the ‘drop score’ for day one but despite that there was still a good supportive team spirit. We had a Saturday night barbecue in the rain, more wine (including sampling our sponsor’s product – Slimline Wine) and a singalong in the gazebo!
Sunday thankfully dawned dry and bright, and the arenas dried out. We were on in the morning this time and Indio felt fantastic in the warm-up, Levi really pushed us and Indio responded beautifully. We headed into the arena and didn’t quite manage to reproduce that, Indio felt a little tired and I failed to get his balance in the right place but I was still delighted with him. He put his all into the weekend and I couldn’t ask for more! Our score of 65% was lower than our usual but enough to count towards the team score. Our team came 14th of 31 so a very respectable position in the end, with special thanks to Shirley and Jackie who put in some incredible performances in the Medium and Elementary! Kelly at Prelim had a good show too with her pure-bred Arab mare, I’m pretty sure she was the only Arab at the championship.
The weekend wrapped up with the prizegiving and it was great to see that Team Central had a lot of good results. There’s definitely work to do for Indio and I, but I hope we can get back on a team again in future! I’d certainly like to do it again, and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Get those applications in – the Senior Home International is up next at the end of August!
BD Central Region 