T
he equestrian team has once
again had an extremely
successful year with many
victories and exciting
experiences. We started the
season at the Blundell's One
Day Event with Lucy Barker and Matt Peek,
who both did very well individually and
thoroughly enjoyed the day on young horses.
Our next event was eagerly anticipated; Stonar
School's One Day Event, where we finished an
impressive fourth out of 11 teams.
This event was hugely competitive and well
supported, attracting teams from schools all over
the country, including Millfield and King's
Canterbury. The team consisted of Matt Peek
riding Prime Time Tilly, Katie Vickers on Zakariah,
Rosa McNeill on Tom, and Milly Harrison riding
Little Miss Thornberry. Milly also came sixth
individually, remaining on her dressage score of
37.1 after a double clear. Holly Davis later
continued our success in the Junior Stonar School
One Day Event, finishing a fantastic third out of
42 starters on her new mare, SOS Swanleap. As
always, she showed great determination and skill
to secure their place in the top three.
In March, the team was fortunate enough to
have a cross-country session with international
three-day event rider, Mary King. The four
times British Open Champion and four times
Olympian held the clinic at Stockland Lovell
course and was a huge success. Mary gave us
all expert advice and used her vast amount of
experience to improve our techniques, working
with us in a group but also giving specific
attention to each individual. Everyone felt that
they learnt a huge amount from the lesson and
had managed to significantly improve their
performances in a short space of time. We will
definitely be arranging more clinics with top
international riders in the future.
Our next great success was at Millfield's annual
Inter-Dressage competition where the team
proved their talent and performed superbly to
win one class by a wide margin and finish a
close second in another. The team consisted of
Matt Peak, Milly Harrison, Holly Davis and Lucy
Barker who all rode brilliantly and, as usual,
there was a real team spirit throughout the day.
This triumph was particularly special for Lucy
Barker and Matt Peek who both partnered young
and inexperienced horses, but produced two
lovely tests to ensure a fantastic overall result.
Later that term we competed at Wellington
School's Show Jumping competition. Many of
our regular riders competed for the senior team
although some found the course tricky. This
event also gave some of our younger riders the
first chance to compete for the school team;
Kitty Monks and Martha Gray did really well
with Martha being placed individually in the
XXX class.
It's been a full calendar of show jumping,
dressage and eventing throughout the year and
our new team kit looked fantastic! Although we
will be losing two of our key members, Katie
Vickers and Rosa McNeil, there is still a huge
amount to look forward to for the remaining
members who will hopefully continue the success
that has been achieved on so many occasions
this year. Our coach Mrs Gresswell has been so
supportive, and none of what we have
accomplished would have happened without her
help or Miss Martin's, who has also given us
great advice, enabling us to give our best possible
performance on every outing. What sets King's
riders apart is their great team spirit. If one rider
doesn't have a good day, they are genuinely
delighted and hugely supportive for their other
teammates if they do well. It is so exciting to
think of what we have achieved this year and
what we could potentially achieve next year.
Aluredian
91
Riding
by
Camilla
Harrison
Katie Vickers on Zakariah at
Stonar School's One Day
Event