An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Skipton (2) - find out more here
Skipton (2) almost didn’t run this year due to low entries, but with an almighty social media push which had over 87,000 views, the organisers managed to get enough entries to run and what a fabulous weekend it was.
After Cholmondeley sadly had to abandon their second day of competition the week before, there were concerns about the weather at Skipton but the rain mostly held off until we were packing up at the end of the weekend, when it absolutely threw it down. Skipton’s efforts to reduce single use plastic by providing refillable water bottles to the volunteers and ensuring that the caterers were only selling water in cans or refillable cups was inspiring and hopefully other events will follow their lead.
Lucinda Atkinson won the BE100 Section A on Capital Investment, bred and owned by Zoe Huxtable. Lucinda, who runs a professional event yard in Bedale, thinks very highly of this horse
“We’ve had two wins in a row, the first was the BE100 at Skipton and hopefully this horse is one for the future as it has all the right attributes. I compete seven horses at the moment but unfortunately my 4* horse injured himself before Bramham. I do a lot of teaching and am always looking for new rides/owners”
Zoe Allen and Shadow Super Candy in the BE90 Open U18 Photo: Jess Johnson
Katie Pollock won the BE100 Section B on her own Fella II, having had a difficult season so far. She described the feeling of finding out she had won
“I really don’t know what to say....you know when you have flash backs of all the hard work you’ve put in together, been through the good times and the bad times over the past 11 months then you feel yourself smiling and you’re coming to the end of your flash back to find out you’ve won..... Your heart fills with emotion that you actually can’t quite believe.”
“I bought Fella (a mare!) in October last year and she had been just a show jumper until then. She had so much attitude towards her flat work and you had to reverse her in to water but, after a lot of time, money and training, I feel like we’re going in the right direction! She’s not easy at times but she’s certainly my horse of a lifetime.”
BE100 Section C was won by 17-year-old Dominic Murray from Nottinghamshire on his own Miss Indigo. Dom was a pure dressage rider until the age of 13 and hadn’t done much jumping until then, but he has now been eventing for four years and has ridden up to 2* level.
“Miss Indigo (Indie) is my own 12-year-old mare and I have had her for 18 months now. We had some good results last season at BE100 and Novice levels including a win at Speetley 100U18, ninth in our first novice at Buckminster and seventh at the National U18 Championships at Frickley. This season we have had a tricky start, with our first completion eventually coming in June at Keysoe! Since then we have had a win at Buckminster 100U18 and Skipton 100 Open. I will now step her back up to Novice again at our next event at Shelford.”
The BE100 Section D Regional Final was won by Kate Broatch on her own Trent Red Mexico, who have had several top ten placings already this season, including two wins.
Carly Woolley and Grand Illusion in the BE100 Regional Final Photo: Jess Johnson
The Novice Section E was won by Jamie Atkinson on I G W owned by Susan Atkinson while Emily Grace won the Novice Section G with Seapatrick Narco owned by Vincent Jones. Rachael Lupton won the Novice Section F on her own Shannondale Shagosha, a horse she bought from the Monart Irish Sale as a three-year-old.
“She has been such a lovely horse to produce. She has won at 100, 105 and now Novice, she is so consistent. She hunted last winter a few days with my fiancé and she is a very special mare who can turn to anything. I seem to only have Shannondale bred horses, all of whom I’ve had from unbroken, but I’m not quite sure how that has happened - I must get on with them! I won last year in the BE100 at Skipton so I seem to have good luck there; it’s such a lovely event.”
Vicky Mosley and Carrick Diamond Harp in the BE90 Photo: Jess Johnson
Carrie Skelton won the BE90 Section H on Botswana BK owned by Jennifer Whittaker. This was Carrie’s first BE win and she was over the moon.
“I am the manager of White Hill Stud in Lancashire which is just 30 minutes away from Skipton so it’s lovely to win at our local event. Hugo (Botswana) is owned by Jennifer Whittaker who owns the stud and he was purchased last year from his breeder Ana Beca in Spain. He’s the only horse I have to event at the moment having sold my own Novice horse in February to a promising young rider but I also compete pure dressage with another of Jennifer’s horses, who I won a class with at Aintree on Thursday so it was a good week!”
BE90 Section I was won by Jessica Baugh on Devauden Melody owned by Lizzie Baugh, and Chloe Fairley won the BE90 Regional Final in Section J on her own Behey Boy II. Section K was also a BE90 Regional Final which was won by Joanne Morland on her own Wil Be HSH Forever, and Poppy Carr won the U18 BE90 Open Section L on her own Carnsdale Dun Good.
The two BE80 Sections M and N were won by Matilda Wadeson on JP Casanova, owned by Charmaine O’Connor, and Tracy Garside on Beach Rua (watch their full cross country ride here) owned by Beth Harrison.
The course was slightly different this time, which many riders appreciated, and hopefully Skipton will not have to go through the stress of low entry numbers in future having yet again proven their ability to put on a challenging yet friendly, well-run event.
Article by Jess Johnson
Ruby Todd and Burnlea Colleen Bui in the BE90 Open U18 Photo: Jess Johnson
