RAF Championships including the Loriners Inter-services Leg 1/4 and London International Horse Show Qualifiers 1/3
The military equestrian season commenced at the RAF Championships kindly hosted by Sparsholt Equestrian Centre in Winchester. Athletes from all three services competed in dressage, showjumping and arena eventing at all levels. Sparsholt was also able to provide hireling horses so that riders without their own horse were also able to compete and take part. Despite this fixture falling over the Easter leave period, we had over 76 Army personnel in attendance. Senior Army Team riders were also on hand to assist and be role models to riders new to competition.
This first fixture hosted the first legs of important inter-services competitions; the London Int’l Horse Show (showjumping at 1.10 – 1.15 m) and the Loriners Inter-services trophy competition.
The London International Horse Show Qualifiers format was revised for 2023 with the qualifiers shrinking down to 3 opportunities. Combinations gain ranking points with the top 8 selected for the final that takes place in December each year. This first leg was hotly contested with 36 entries from across the services. We are pleased to report that Army riders made up 9 out of the top 10 with Capt Mary Pearson (RAVC) and Capt Zoe Andrew (R Signals) topping the podium.
In addition, this fixture also hosted the first (out of four) legs of the Loriners Inter-services competition. Dressage was the theme of this leg and the Army Team brought forwards the following rider-horse combinations:
Maj Becky Darke (29 RLC) and her own Nadisker
Lt Fiona Denton (QOY) and her own Donau VDL
LBdr Liz Griggs (47 RA) and her own Harri Coeswen
LBdr Lauren Sweetland (19 RA) and her own Asby Mills Amigo
The team dominated this competition coming in with a combined score of 204.10%, beating out the RAF and Royal Navy by 10 and 20% respectively, with Lt Denton crowned individual champion and LBdr Sweetland coming in a close 2nd place. The pressure is now on for the Eventing and Showjumping teams to complete the collection over the following months….stay tuned.
