Romney Marsh Friendly Competition                                       ....... Mini/Junior report by Suzie Vickery
12^th March 2011 Court Lodge Farm, Bodiam                           ....... Senior report by Melissa Cheeseman

The first event of the season was held at Court Lodge Farm at Bodiam – a lovely venue with a fabulous indoor school and very posh facilities. It was hosted by Romney Marsh who have run a very good Pairs Competition at this venue over the winter months. Julie Prodger, the organiser, always provides a very encouraging environment for the younger children and today was no exception. Jean Preston kindly took the role of team trainer for the day, and patiently helped the children through their races.

The Junior team kicked off the day and, despite a few errors along the way, they did a good job and worked well together as a team. Some of their races were particularly good and they seemed to do better the more complex the race. Special mention must go to James Penston who put in an almost faultless performance. The end result was 7^th , but it could so easily have been a few places higher if luck had been on their side. Everyone will have learnt a lot from the experience as well as having a great time. Junior team members : Charlotte Vickery, Sophie Preston, James Penston, Cordelia Moore and Daniel Vickery

The Junior team are briefed by Jean Preston before their first match

The Mini team was next to go : with only 4 riders (due to 1 team member suffering an unrelated injury recently) and 2 newcomers to Games, our expectations weren’t high – but they were blown out of the water, as the team did a superb job race after race and won the match. 4 very excited children received their sashes, rosettes and silver platters at the prize-giving. The jubilant Mini team were : Rosie Moore, Daniel Hayden, Olli Holman and Daniel Vickery.

The Mini team collect their prizes

It was the senior team’s first mounted games competition of the 2011 season! We travelled down to the Romney Marsh Pony Club and competed indoors at Bodium. Overall, the team came 4^th! The team of five was Sian Hayden on Shrek, Alex Stone on Prince, Millie Rushton on Mercury, Megan Yeoman on Honey and Melissa Cheeseman on Rupert. The team’s best race of the day was the five flag race! Alex on Prince stormed back in the last leg position, and won the final of the five flag! The team also had a successful bottle race and raced in the final!