Well, what a week! A wonderful group of children, parents, grandparents, helpers and of course, the fabulous ponies and horses, made for an excellent week of fun and competition.
An event on a new site 1100 miles from Calais was going to be a challenge. No one knew what to expect or how the ponies were going to cope with the journey. Inside information (thanks to the TD and course designer) said it was a ‘greenfield’ site that was a couple of football pitches up until March this year! I had every faith in the Osorhei team and knew they wouldn’t let us down.
Sunday 9th August – Arrival Day
Sara Howe, Mary Jane and I arrived after a delayed flight to find all of the ponies well settled into decorated stables on a very dry and not so green site. Camp had been set up to maximize shade throughout the day which we were all very grateful for. Bunting and flags were hung around camp making sure that everyone knew it was the GBR camp!
Monday 10th August – Rest(!) day
All of the ponies had a walk out, either in hand or driven. After such a long journey I was pleased that none of the ponies seemed to have been affected by being on lorries for so long. The sky was cloudless and the temperature was climbing. We quickly discovered that wasps were living in the ground everywhere so any sugary food was under threat. Everyone familiarized themselves with the showground layout – compact but workable- and then had time to relax for a while. As the afternoon was quiet most of the children, accompanied by Mary Jane and a few other grown-ups, headed for the local water park under the strict instruction that no-one was to get broken!! Our second trainer Tara Wilkinson arrived early evening and was quickly acquainted with the showground and ponies.
Tuesday 11th August – First Horse inspection, Opening ceremony and Nation’s Night
An early start for everyone making sure that all of the ponies were sound, clean, plaited and ready to come under the scrutiny of Andrew Counsell (POJ) and the event Vet. All equines passed. Plenty of compliments about the turnouts. On to the draw for dressage – a long drawn-out process with so many classes (I’m sure that a computer could do it much quicker)
Later in the afternoon everyone got the chance to have their 2 minutes of arena familiarization. This began the start of clock watching and funneling children from the training arena to the 2nd arena, then to the last warm up arena, then into the main arena. All entries to arenas were timed and would be for the rest of the week.
The opening ceremony was held. The nations were all introduced as they walked around the arena to the gazebos giving the only shade available. We watched dressage riders and vaulters and then were treated to some Romanian folk dancers.
The squad pulled together to make a great spread for Nation’s Night. Eton Mess, Welsh Cakes, Scotch whisky, Cream teas and, of course, Pimm’s. Great fun was had by all (including the wasps). Pulling the trainers away from such a brilliant event always requires negotiation and 5-minute warnings!!
Wednesday 12th August – Dressage
Today we had the children’s class and the Junior H1 class. Jack, Lacey, Ilaria, Evie and Eti drove today. Evie and Eti both finishing 6th. The other children drove well despite the nerves. Sara and Tara were able to have a first look at the obstacles and with the help of David Rockall and Chris Hordern, all possibles routes were walked and measured.
Eti and Ollie headed out for the junior football match against a local junior team. Ollie joined with the Dutch squad. All of the juniors had police(!) escort through the nearby woods to reach the pitch. I’m not sure who won but great fun was had by all that attended.
Thursday 13th – J1 and U25 H1 Dressage
Another 5 drivers today completed their dressage – Nellie, Izzy, Jamie, Lily and Phoebe. Izzy and Brock drove the test of their life to win the class. This is the second time for Izzy as she won the dressage in Flyinge in 2024.
The afternoon was spent course walking with Sara and Tara in groups, children (only gates A-D), horse drivers (horse suitable routes) and the rest of the pony drivers. As the heat was relentless, walking had to be done in shorter sessions than normal, and a trip to the ice cream van was welcoming on the way back to the lorry park.
Friday 14th – U25 Dressage
The last day of dressage and our last driver to go. Sophia drove Dream to 2nd place. Another super test.
The rest of the day was spent walking and running obstacles. Choosing the final lines to drive and cycling the loops to make sure that everyone knew the route from start to finish. For some drivers it was the first time they had seen such a compact loop system – they were going to need to keep an eye out for drivers coming out of the obstacles as they were nearing start/finish gates.
Timing lists were worked out for who needed to be where and when and who with. Only one bike was going to be allowed on course so there were going to be some quick changes for Sara and Tara. Vet checks before and after the marathon plus starts and finishes was certainly going to make my life busy by the warm up arenas!
Dressage prize giving saw Evie, Izzy and Sophia presented with rosettes and trophy’s, with lots of GBR cheering and support.
Saturday 15th – Marathon day
Yet another hot day, but boy was it busy. The children headed out first. And everyone came home smiling. For some it was all over too quick and I felt they were already looking forward to moving up an age category so they could do the full marathon.
Next went the juniors, all round safe. A couple looked slightly disappointed but their parents looked relieved.
Poor Sophia was held at the start after an unfortunate tip up, something she was to endure twice at this event, but once the course was restarted off she flew with amazing determination.
The horses went last. Poor Eti on her way around to her last obstacle passed two tip ups. She will admit that it did affect her and she eased off a bit in the last obstacle. She came home safe and on an absolute high. For someone that was driving gateway classes last year her progress has been quite something.
Phoebe was last to go. This isn’t Liberty’s best phase but Phoebe drove her well and came home in one piece. Sadly there were several tip ups from other nations, but all of GBR were fit for the last day of competition.
Sunday 16th – Cones.
An early start all round. Stables opened at 6 then the course opened at 6.30. It felt like there were 300 people all trying to walk the course together.
All of the Young drivers turned out beautifully to drive Johan Jacobs twisty course. Only two drivers made the time, but had balls down. Our drivers drove well, but the course did have its challenges. None more so than the mini tornado that went through the arena just as Sophia was ready to start. Rubbish was whipped up from an industrial site next door and swirled around the arena and up into the sky. Gazebos were being held down, event paperwork was taking off as were the stewards’ hats.
The dust storm moved off to the stable area. Some ponies were taken out in fear that the temporary stabling might take off – thankfully it didn’t and no harm was done.
The course was reset and Sophia went in to drive. One ball down and a few seconds over the time. After the last drivers in her class had driven Sophia moved up to 2nd in cones and into Gold medal position. What an achievement!
GBR moved into team bronze position but other nations still had drivers to drive. Mary Jane was doing the math, so were some of our young drivers. It all came down to the last French driver. He drove an incredible round and GBR moved into 4th place, just 3.03 points below bronze.
Cones prize giving saw Phoebe, Evie, Sophia and Nellie receive their trophy’s.
The overall prize giving was done in harness. Sophia, with groom Anna, headed into the arena waving the flag for GB. Dream wasn’t going to cooperate in the line up so he was walked up and down behind everyone still waving the flag! What a moment it was when Sophia was presented her FEI Gold medal. So well deserved.
An hour later and camp was packed up and ponies loaded for the long journey home. A truly wonderful event with some amazing Young Drivers and ponies.
Thank you
Sara and Tara – You were both fantastic all week, instilling confidence in our nervous drivers, getting the best out of everyone in all phases, for being fun (sorry we/I pulled you away from Nations Night) and for helping wherever help was needed. You make an awesome team. Thank you.
Mary Jane – I couldn’t have done this without you. Knowing that I could just ask you to be somewhere or do something and know it would be done was fantastic. Thank you for sorting the event meals, and the ones back at the house. Thank you for taking the children to the water park – a real ice breaker for some and great to pull the squad together.
Young Drivers – Well done for everything. No fall outs, just friendship, help and support. I hope you all enjoyed the event and have started planning (and saving) for 2028.
Parents, Grandparents, family, grooms and owners – theses events couldn’t take place without your support. You all did a fantastic job. I think it was the most supportive, relaxed, and happy camp I’ve seen in all of the Europeans that I’ve been involved with. Well done.
Thank you to those who helped transport kit for others and to Anna for sorting out Parker’s transport and the APHA isolation issue.
Well Done everyone. Time to look forward to Austria 2028!
