Junior and Young Riders European Championships

The Pony European Championships took place in Moorsele, Belgium on 29 July-3 August, 2009, with the Juniors and Young Riders European Championships held on 3-9 August in Ermelo, Holland.

The Juniors Dressage Team comprised

Alexandria Barr - Janeiro VI or Davingell

Melissa Beer - Celestial King

Samantha Brown - Kwadraat

Elizabeth Corrie - Broomford Locarno

Reserve

Emily Harris - Washington l03

Melissa writes

We left for Dover on Friday the 31st of July in order to meet at the immaculate ETA stables that evening. We left for the ferry early the next morning, with 8 lorries and a 9 seater mini bus all in convoy.

The showground was fantastic, everything was so close together, and the arena was beautiful and really set up the atmosphere for the competition. On the Sunday, a trip into Amsterdam was organised for the team and parents. We hired a bus to take us into the city, and from there took a boat down a river, seeing all the sights of Amsterdam. After this we took a rather indirect route to a nearby restaurant via the red light district!

The next day- the Monday- was one of the best parts of the trip, as we somehow managed to get a guided tour around Edward Gals and Hans Peter Mindehouds yard! It was incredible; the amount of top stallions they had was outstanding. Running down the line of stables read like a starting list from the Senior Europeans. We saw Hans Peters Olympic partner Nadine, his new ride Escapado, Edward Gals breeding legends Gribaldi and Florencia, and last but not least Totilas! And as if that wasn't good enough, Edward agreed to let us watch him ride Totilas that morning. It was amazing to see just how chilled the horse was, and how easy he found everything was only more obvious at home. It was a truly inspiring visit!

As well as the fun we were having on the trips we were also working hard on the horses, trying to do enough but not too much work after their 5 hour journey to Ermelo. On the Tuesday it was trot up day, a very nerve racking day for all teams and especially the team vets! Andre Buthe- the British team vet- was brilliant. He had been making us trot up continuously all year, meaning that when it came to doing it here, it was almost second nature! The British teams both looked so impressive, and all passed without any issues, which was a great result! Later that day we all attended the opening ceremony. We all wore our matching outfits, looking seriously smart as we walked around the competition arena, and waved our union jacks! That evening the team order was announced and there was no doubt that myself riding first, Lizzie Corrie second, Alex Barr third and Sam Brown last would benefit all of us!

The next day was the Wednesday and the first day of the team test. As the Young Riders were in the morning I had to wait until 3.30pm until it was my turn to compete. We secured a safe test with just a few mistakes earning me a percentage of 65.40. I was really pleased with this result as it seemed a good score for the team to build upon! The next junior rider to go was Lizzie on Broomford Locarno, the judges loved them and she was doing a brilliant test, scoring 67% before it came to the walk. In the walk Arnie became unsettled, it was such a shame and so expensive, taking her mark down to around 61%. Despite this, Lizzie continued to ride positively in the canter work and managed to bring her score back up to 63%. After the first day the team was lying somewhere around 9th, but the marks where just so close that after the second round of tests we could have ended up anywhere.

The next day it was the turn of Alex and Sam. Alex was the first to go and Dexter warmed up well. Alex had managed to nail his trot outside of the arena that week and we had all watched her working him with Ferdi and had been really impressed! Due to Dexter's age and inexperience he left a little of his sparkle in the warm up but Alex managed to produce a safe test from him to earn her 61.08%. The last to ride in the team test was Sam on the experienced Kwadraat. She rode every inch of the test, the judges loving her shoulder in's and circles, in which she earned consistent 7's and 8's. Sam ended on a very respectable 65.72% and finished in 21st place out of almost 70 riders. I followed closely behind in 23rd place, Lizzie in 40th and Alex in 51st, overall the team came 8th and considering that there were 18 countries, we were pleased.

The Individual test proved to hold many ups and downs for the British Juniors. Alex and Lizzie were drawn to ride on the first day, and myself and Sam the next. The first to go was Alex and Dexter. Alex had decided to go for it that day and the trot and walk improved greatly from just the day before. But as Alex asked for a medium canter Dexter seemed to explode into a bucking fit, which eventually led to Alex falling off and was therefore eliminated. At one point everybody thought that she may stay on as she was doing an extremely good job of holding on until he quickly changed direction and there was just no chance for her! Everybody was absolutely devastated for Alex, and just couldn't believe how incredibly well she had dealt with it afterwards. Im not sure if anybody could have handled the situation any better, Alex was so professional and proved to everybody that day just what hard stuff she is made of! Next on were Lizzie and Arnie, they pulled out a great test with hardly any mistakes to leave them with an impressive 66.31%, the judges loved their trot half passes and extended movements- a brilliant result! The next day, Sam and I rode. First on, Sam entered to a phenomenal 76% and gained high trot marks from all judges. Sam finished on 66.21% and everybody was thrilled! Unfortunately, I cannot say my test went the same way. CK became very unsettled after having to wait in the entrance to the arena for a short while, and then being spooked a number of times by the judges entering their boxes. The trot and walk went well, but he showed how upset he had been by this in his canter. There were changes chucked in everywhere, which I got many 5's, 3's and 2's for. I still managed to end on 61.52% but was disappointed with the test. We spent a nervous afternoon waiting to see if Sam or Lizzie would end up in the top 15 and therefore in the music, only to find they finished just outside. This was a big blow for the girls, but everyone was still super proud of their results!

That evening we had the nations evening, where each team performs a small skit on something that is typical of their country. This year we chose Britain's Got Talent, and it was so funny! Charlie dressed as a woman for the second year in a row and auditioned in front of the judges as Susan Boyle, whilst the girls in the team where GB squared, a dance group! The 2009 Junior Europeans were such an amazing experience for all of us junior riders, and we are all so grateful for all the funding and sponsorship we received this year! The team spirit in the camp was just incredible; everybody got on so well and was so supportive and kind. Thank you to our Chef D'Equipes, selectors, team vet, team trainer, grooms and parents for all your help, I know we all really appreciate everything that went into this years Europeans!