Hartpury College, 22-24 July, 2016
This was the inaugural GBPRE event and the Directors only had a few short months to organise and plan the entire show. We received such amazing feedback (almost without exception) on the content of the Show itself, the friendliness of the ‘staff’ and Directors and the overall organisation. Huge gratitude has to go to Show Director Stephanie Hurstfield who, together with her sister Sally Chatting and an amazing team of stewards and helpers (Kim Hayden, Gemma Bowles, Oriol Matas, Idoia Puilliers, pulled together an amazing, well run, friendly show in a very short period of time. We were so lucky with the weather too and the sun shone on us most of the weekend – it makes such a difference doesn’t it!
Karen Manzi, Dressage Director of GBPRE, worked tirelessly to try and accommodate everyones commitments in other classes so their dressage times didn’t clash – we have another solution for 2017. More on that later! The ANCCE Representative, Philip Belhoussine, was ever helpful and worked hard with us to try and establish the COPA classes as SICAB qualifiers. Eventually, we succeeded in obtaining official qualification for 3 UK riders to compete at the World PRE Championships (SICAB), Charlotte Crocker-Westlake, Alice Hurley and Anna Wilson. Both Alice and Charlotte travelled to SICAB and competed in the Prix St George and Intermediare I Championships with great overall results. See separate report from Yasmin Joanne-Walker.
Our inaugural show also managed to obtain qualification to the Veteran Society Championships for the first time in several years. We now have an affiliation to the VHS and will be offering Qualification to the Championships in the future, from 2017 onwards, at our own Championship Show. We are really pleased with this achievement and hope that more members will enter the Veteran classes in future as there are some wonderful classes throughout the UK and it is a super Championship show, held at different locations throughout the UK, each year.
For the first time, we introduced the Iberian Sports Horse classes which were very popular. We were really lucky to have Irene Susca as our judge for these classes who is a former President of Sports Horse GB. We are also hoping for 2017 that our classes can become a qualifier for the GB Sports Horse Championships. Another clinic idea for those interested in competing in sports horse classes too!
The ANCCE Judge this year, Rafael Juan Garrido Herencia is a relatively newly approved judge for conformation classes. It was really nice to see many different winners in the classes so the top prizes were shared out amongst breeders and also one horse owners equally.
The young stock classes were well supported overall and it is wonderful to see so many British Bred horses in these classes, and doing so well against their Spanish counterparts!
For the first time we held the Working Equitation classes indoors and these were a National qualifier for WE Championships UK. The spectacle of the Speed event and the evening dressage was really exciting to watch and is now a confirmed feature for our 2017 Show.
It is great to work so closely with the main GB bodies and associations for their relevant disciplines and to have as many qualifiers in our own Championship show as we can manage.
Next year, for 2017, we have managed to secure an extra day to hold British Dressage affiliated classes. These will be qualifiers for the ANCCE COPA/SICAB, BD/GBPRE Championships and also BD Regional Championships and is another first for our show. Unaffiliated dressage will still be a feature at our Hartpury show in 2017, but in the guise of the MCI with free of charge day tickets offered to non IDM Members in order to be able to compete in this very exciting series, with a chance to compete in the MCI Championships (2017 in Paris).
Our first show was a huge success which was down to our Members and competitors as much as our Show Team. Next year promises to be even better with other new classes to encompass other disciplines including Clear Round jumping and Agility, affiliated to Agility UK.
Some of our sponsors have already been confirmed for 2017 so the momentum is already underway!