After a great showing season for Shearwater Sponsorship Package winners Georgina and Beanie, we caught up with them to find out what is in store for the winter…
“The showing season is now over and Beanie can finally stop being washed and spruced and be a muddy, fluffy horse! At the beginning of August we came very close to qualifying for HOYS at Houghton Hall for the SEIB Racehorse to Riding Horse class, with a forth placing and narrowly missing qualification by just 2 places in a huge class. A couple of weeks later we went to Burghley Horse Trails for the final qualification of the season and had a wonderful time! What a memory to tell my daughter when she is older and wants to go showing! Sadly we weren’t placed, as you can expect it was a very full class with lot’s of professionals. We couldn’t fault Beanie in his behaviour despite the electric atmosphere of the main arena. But without qualifying for HOYS Beanie and I could now hang up our Jackets and boots and focus on having a fun winter! He did me proud though and didn’t put a foot wrong!”
“Firstly, we did a local hunter trial and had a lovely day! Bearing in mind Beanie has not jumped cross country since the beginning of spring, he was a darling and took on the course with enthusiasm, I was very pleased with him! It was so nice to go out and have some fun after a very intense summer of being a prancing show pony.
“A couple of weeks later we loaded up the trailer again and headed out to Ely Eventing Centre for their Autumn Hunter Trails and boy was it windy! Beanie loves it at Ely, he just seems to kick into another gear here and in the spring, we won the 90cm class so we thought we would see how we would get on doing the 100cm this time! The course was well put together with lots of inviting fences, nice places to push on and stretch out, and with lots of fences to test horse and rider.
To my delight, Beanie flew round without so much as looking twice at a fence and came home clear! We had 2 time penalties which meant we missed first place by seconds but was delighted to discover I had come 4th out of a really big class! My sister Sophie kindly videos some of my rounds for me and put together this little video compilation of our rounds so see B and I in action!”
“Then last weekend I decided at the last minute that we were going to head out for our first ever hunting experience with The Cambridge University Drag Hounds at their opening meet! Beanie has never seen hounds, let alone been out with an entire pack of them, and with a large field of fellow riders! We were very unsure how he would cope, but all credit to B, he was a chilled out dude. He enjoyed mingling with old and new friends before heading out. There was lots of lovely jumps and Beanie was able to feel like a racehorse again by galloping across gorgeous country estates.We went for an hour or so, before heading back to the box to be washed off and relax. It had been years since I have been out hunting and was good to see old friends. We will be going out again soon as long as the going is good.”
“We will be spending the winter doing a bit of everything. I want to make the best of these good experiences he has had lately as he thrives off of work. I am so proud of all that Beanie and I have achieved this season by qualifying for the ROR finals at Hickstead. From B and I, until next time.”
shearwaterinsurance 