Amy and Sarah two local riders that Ridings Equine Vets sponsors have sent us a summary of 2022 - well done to you both and we will see you over 2023!
2022 was a busy year for Team Roberts with lots of training and competing working towards our season aims with each horse. We trained lots over the winter with Chris Bartle working on our dressage and show jumping after the horses had their break from the previous season and we continued to train with Chris over the rest of the season. We started our XC schooling on a surface in January at Richmond which is perfect when the ground during winter is often very wet. We also like to head to Sun Hill Sport Horse Fitness centre to build on the horse’s fitness on the gallops and water treadmill. We are also very lucky to be able to regularly weigh our horses under the guidance of Dengie Horse Feeds so we can keep track how successful our fitness training is and if their diets need altering to suit the time of season or their workload as we have a few good doers! Ridings Vets also offer this service so it’s something everyone can do with their horses if they’d like to keep an eye on their weight. We also both worked incredibly hard last year on our own strength and fitness, getting in the best possible shape in hope of achieving our aims following guidance from Equestrian Sport Science. We hope we can continue to build on this during 2023.
As the 2022 competition season started for us Lenny and Sarah competed in dressage during February, and Lenny gained his qualification for the BD Petplan Area Festival championships at Elementary level held at Hartpury later in the year. It unfortunately clashed with eventing and is a rather long journey for us therefore we didn’t go but to have qualified was a great achievement. We headed to Oasby at the start of March as our first BE event of the season where Lenny finished 5th in the BE90 with a double clear. Later in March Lenny and Sarah moved up to BE100 at Northallerton with a great run but unfortunately rolling a pole, however they went on to gain 7 double clears last season at BE100 level. Lenny and Sarah gained 5 wins last season at BE100 level, and finished in the top 10 placings, 10 times! Lenny had successful wins at Richmond, Shelford Manor, Skipton, Frenchfield and our most local event Allerton Park. This led to them finishing equal first in the Equi Ratings stats for number of wins at BE100 level for the 2022 season. Lenny and Sarah stepped up to Novice level at Askham Bryan Horse Trials after training well for the step up it seemed the right time and so we stuck to our plan and Sarah attempted her first Novice. They produced a great test in the dressage followed by a clear in the show jumping however two refusals at a table dropped them out of the placings. They completed well after tackling what Lenny thought was a rather spooky table.
6 year old Lewis also made his British Eventing debut after finishing well in a few ODE’s he competed in a handful of BE90’s with a double clear to finish 2nd at Warwick Hall which is a great highlight for him for last season as he can be a spooky horse and sometimes is scared of his own shadow! He thrives in the show jumping and has recently been competing in BS towards the end of last year jumping clears in the British Novice and Discovery and will hopefully continue show jumping this year.
Amy competed three horses last season Otto and Yogi who are both 6 year olds and Peanut who is a 5 year old. Amy started her eventing season at Shelford Manor in May with Otto in the BE100 who finished 9th and 5 year old Peanut completed his first ever BE90 event. Peanut also competed at Speetly Horse Trials however they picked up an unfortunate 20 penalties in the cross-country phase and so he went on to compete in unaffiliated ODE’s where he finished several events feeling well and learnt that he did have to leave his friends when going out of the start box! Otto posted double clears in the BE100 at Belsay International, Eland Lodge and Frenchfield where he finished 10th although his dressage scores hold him back but Amy has worked hard on this with Chris throughout the year and gained some much improved scores in the dressage. Yogi completed his first ever BE event at Eland Lodge finishing 10th in the BE90 and 8th at Buckminster Park with a double clear.
Yogi stepped up to BE100 at Burgham International at the end of July gaining a great score in the dressage, clear in the show jumping and 20 penalties in the cross-country although this was solved with a change of bit as Amy had lost her rideability in the cross-country as Yogi found his love for this phase. He gained a double clear at Allerton Park and finished the season at Oasby in the Novice in October.
Although last season was filled with lots of highs, we unfortunately had to say our final goodbyes to Eddie at the end of September at the age of 33. We had owned him for almost 20 years, and he had been the most fun pony for Amy, competing in show hunter classes, pony club rallies and hunting. He was the best companion in his later years but still very much kept us on our toes. He had had a wonderful 33 years and Jess from Ridings Vets offered the best care for him on his final day with us.
We have also welcomed two new additions to the Team Roberts family which is very exciting for us. We have two very beautiful foals who we hope have very bright and exciting futures ahead of them. They both have great breeding and although we are yet to meet one of them, she sounds very much like her brother who is the very fabulous Fruitloop! We hope to share more of their journeys with you as they grow and learn.
Recently Lewis has been out show jumping this winter and Otto, Yogi, Peanut and Lenny have had their winter holidays and are now building up their fitness ready for the 2023 season. They all ended 2023 having a jump at home. We hope everyone has a wonderful new year and we hope to keep you all updated on what we get up to in 2023!
Sarah & Amy x
