Scotts of Thrapston

Ready to take our first steps into affiliated eventing

Posted on 21. Apr, 2011 by Julia Berrie in Rider Development Programme, Sarah Orr

Hi I’m Sarah Orr and I’m thrilled to have been selected alongside Alex Elliott for this years Scotts of Thrapston Rider Development Programme. I’m 29 years old and live in Northamptonshire.

I have been riding since I was 2 years old and started competing from an early age. My mum was a riding instructor so I have always been around horses and owned my own from a young age. I have owned Bugsy Malone a 12 years old 15.1h registered Irish Sports Horse since July 2009 and although quirky at first our relationship seems to be going from strength to strength. For the last 18 months we have been competing in unaffiliated events covering a range of disciplines. I feel we are now ready to take our first steps into the eventing world and do some affiliated eventing.

After a warm welcome from Sara and a few photos with Julia from Scotts of Thrapston we made our way down to the course. The sun was shining and the course was looking fantastic with an excellent grass covering. After a warm up and a quick brief with Nick we got started. The idea was to tackle ditches, steps and water at a slow pace introducing them gradually giving the horse’s time to assess the different types of fences and what was being asked from them. To finish we’d put everything into practice and a jump a course of varied fences.

We started with a ditch, then two ditches and Bugsy took it all in his stride. Next we moved onto three steps first jumping up and then down. Bugsy who was much more excitable than usual and in Nick’s words quite a ‘busy’ horse launched down the steps on our first attempt, it was quite daunting. Nick’s advice was to put more weight in the stirrups, legs further forward, lean back and most importantly remember to breathe! Back to the top we went, I rode as quietly as I could taking on board the advice from Nick and it went much smoother. Bugsy started to settle and the steps became less exciting which made it so much easier for me to ride. We then moved onto the water complex, starting with just walking through, then gradually introducing the step and jump.

It was time to string a few fences together; I was really looking forward to this part. We jumped a range of fences including a step down, roll top, palisade, ditch, two log and step combinations, the water complex, chair, helsinki steps, and a trakehner – this was our first time jumping a trakehner but the session had clearly paid off and we flew it! I was over the moon. Unfortunately, we didn’t have so much luck at the water and I took a tumble down the steps and landed just inches away from the water! Bugsy trotted off quite happy flicking his toes as he went to eat the lush grass. Much to his disappointment, we tried again and soon had it mastered thanks to Nick’s guidance and we ended on a positive note.

A fantastic first session which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the tumble at the water we had an amazing day and I left feeling very positive and excited for our next training session.

Tags: affiliated eventing, Carlton Cross Country, Nick Turner, Sarah Orr, Scotts of Thrapston