Cambridgeshire Countryside Alliance holds adult gymkhana
Creaking knees and arthritic hips will be put to the test on 4 October when the Cambridgeshire Countryside Alliance group holds its inter-hunt adult gymkhana.
Local hunts are invited to send teams of four — aged over 25 and mounted on horses rather than ponies — to take part in bending, apple-bobbing and other races more regularly the preserve of their Pony Club members.
Organiser and Fitzwilliam hunt joint-master George Bowyer will be taking part on his 17.2hh part-bred Irish draught, Paddy.
“There will be mounting blocks provided for those who can’t get back on board, but I can get on Paddy without one,” he told H&H.
“We thought it would be a fun way to raise some money and hope that teams will bring along lots of supporters to have a good laugh at them.”
Hunts can either forward one team of four to take part in all six races or a number of “specialist” teams for each.
The gymkhana will be held at Manor Farm Equestrian Centre near Huntingdon, at 3pm, and there will be a bar and hog roast.
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• To enter, email office@fitzwilliamhunt.com
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (17 September, ’09)
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.