Lauren Shannon’s blog: first event and Badminton entry
The event season is finally in full swing, despite the weather’s best efforts to hold us all back! I competed at Oasby Horse Trials last week with five horses, and was lucky enough to get four of them out the way on Thursday, before fog and then wet ground made the event hard work for everyone involved.
Crunchie (Kilcannon Watlings Crunch) did a lovely double clear in the novice for her first run of the season, and she would have been third if I’d kicked on a bit more cross-country. I thought I was flying round, but embarrassingly came home with 12 time-penalties! Definitely rusty on my part coming back into the season.
Holly (Riffala Du Buisson), the newest arrival, was sixth in her section and both Arthur (Silver Birches Arthur) and Purdey (Silver Purdey) went very well in the BE100. It was a bit of a shock to the system competing four in one day for the first one of the year, but it was made a million times better by the fact that I have finally found a lorry!
I picked it up in the late afternoon of Wednesday last week, drove it home and packed it up straight away for Oasby on the Thursday. Nothing like working close to the wire! I have every faith that this lorry won’t let me down as my last one did, as I had a pre-purchase exam done on it by PAC Horsebox Repair (www.horseboxrepair.com) which means un-mechanical Lauren didn’t make any silly decisions!
Smartie (Smart Lady) then finished second in the BE100open on Sunday, in what has to be described as trying conditions! Oasby’s team had done everything they could to improve the ground on the cross-country, and moved the dressage arenas and showjumping. There was nothing they could do about the lorry park though, and everyone had to be towed on and off.
Badminton final scores
I did feel terrible for everyone coming in a trailer. I saw one poor woman get her horse out, tie him up and then stand there with her stud kit wondering how to get her studs in with the horse halfway up to his knees in mud! Not ideal, but at least we all managed to get a decent run in.
So now it’s off to Lincolnshire this weekend, as long as this Arctic freeze gives up. This will be all the BE100 horses’ first novice and a first run of the year for Louie (Zero Flight). He is definitely getting excited, as he hated being left on the yard when everyone else got to go to a party last weekend. I did my Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials entry yesterday so I’m really looking forward to getting him out this weekend and blowing the cobwebs off!
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
Lauren
Full report of Oasby in H&H out tomorrow, 14 March issue.
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Event rider Lauren Shannon blogged on Horseandhound.co.uk from June 2011 until September 2014. Born in Brighton, she lived in America from the age of three to 16, returning to the UK to go to university after she finished school. After university she worked for Mark and Tanya Kyle before setting up her own yard in Leicestershire. Her best result to date was finishing 9th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with her top horse, Zero Flight.