OLD SURREY & BURSTOW HUNT PONY CLUB

District Commissioner: Mrs Abigail Bernard
The Old Cottage, Broadham Green Road, Oxted, Surrey, RH8 9PF
Tel: 07876675441/ 07775712512 email: abbybern1@aol.com

Autumn Letter

Leaves are falling, hunting has started and we are having a warm and sunny autumn. What a year the Old Surrey & Burstow Hunt Branch has had. It has flown by so fast that I am afraid I missed my Summer Letter altogether. I know you have all been busy and we are about to have our Prize-Giving, however I would like to say that The Pony Club is not just about winning, but also being an active and enthusiastic member of the Branch. I have really enjoyed meeting the members, both old and new, and hope to see much more of you in the next few months.

We have had so many successes it is hard to know where to begin. However I would like to start with the Junior Horse and Pony Care Team of Katie Brookes, Charlotte Vickery and Melissa Cheeseman, who qualified for the Pony Club Championships, a first for the OS&B. At the Championships Katie was replaced by Charlotte Vickery, as Katie had other commitments. The team acquitted themselves well in a tough competition and they are well prepared for next year.

Our Novice Show Jumpers had a brilliant result at Area, the teams claimed both first and second place, qualifying for the Novice Championships. The 2 teams consisted of Hannah Marshall, Hannah Simpson, Alice Cousins and Heidi Cousins, and Hannah Martin, Katie Rennie, Bryony McPake and Elizabeth Matthews. Due to a series of problems, only one team ended up competing at the Championships, it was Hannah Martin, Katie Rennie, Bryony McPake and Elizabeth Martin, however they had a great time and won 5^th in Turnout so came home with lovely rosettes and lots of experience to build on for next year.

Rebekka Barrow had a busy year, having qualified for the Novice Championships at Area Dressage, she replaced Hannah Marshall in the Novice Show jumping team and ended up competing as an individual both in the show jumping, and dressage, where she finished in 6^th place, a brilliant achievement.

Holly Arnold qualified for the Novice Championships at the Area Eventing and competed in the wet and treacherous conditions. She did well, but unfortunately a few faults in the show jumping and cross country kept her out of the ribbons.

In polo we had 4 Teams qualify for the Championships at Cowdray, all finishing in the middle of their sections. At the Championships Terence Lent and Harry Hickmett were selected to play for Young England by the HPA, and won the Stagshead Trophy, and Kian Hall was selected for the HPA Junior Development squad.

Finally our Junior Endurance Team, as I am sure you will all know, won the Endurance Championships!! This was definitely a first for the OS&B and a really wonderful conclusion to the championships season; well done to Charlotte Vickery, Oliver Holman, Cora Moore, Emma Cording and Daniel Vickery.

We had two very successful camps this summer, Junior Camp which took place at Littleton Manor Equestrian Centre and Mini Camp which took place at Carewell. Local Rider has lots of photos and a report from our Junior Camp. At Junior Camp the following passed their D+ Test: Libby Newman, Olivia Hibbert, Olivia Chambers, Tamsin Hesketh, Ellie Chambers, Megan Taylor, Sarah Hamblin and Abbie Salter. The following passed their C Test: Scarlett Rutter, Ella Jordan, Melissa Cheeseman, Kate Harris, Megan Bruce-Smythe, Jack Court, Maizie Hodges and Katie Rennie. We had many D and D+ passes at Mini Camp too. Congratulations to all of them.

At B Test, we had two candidates, Emma Stovell, who passed her Stable Management Section, and Megan Cole who already had the Stable Management and has now passed her B Test Riding. The B Test is a really tough exam so congratulations to both Emma and Megan.

This year one of our Branch members, Sophie Murrell, has been selected to take part in the Mini-Major Show Jumping Competition at Olympia. Sophie will be paired with a professional Show Jumper and jump a course of jumps with them. We have booked tickets and a coach to go up to support Sophie on the Thursday afternoon.

As we are now into the hunting season I am pleased to see how many children are keen to give it a go. We had a visit to the kennels earlier in the year, which gave us an insight into what goes on behind the scenes in putting on a day’s hunting, and there was a talk given by one of the former masters of the Hunt about the etiquette of hunting. There are several parents who hunt, including Jean Preston, Caroline Martin, Sara Brise and Sally and Malcom Keenleyside. I also hunt regularly and am happy to answer questions or on occasions escort members who want to come hunting. There is a Children’s Meet at half term which is a good introduction to hunting as the children do not need an escort. You do not need to book in with Mrs Stakemire for the Childrens’ Meets, but for regular Meets you should contact her if you are not going with an adult as she will need to find someone to escort you. The Hunt are happy to see children out and it is a great way to improve your riding and jumping!

Lastly I would like to thank all the discipline organisers who have worked so hard over the past few months. We are sad to say goodbye to Sue King and Carolyn Manning, both of whom are stepping down, but welcome Caroline Martin and Sue Barrow who have agreed to take on the show jumping and the dressage.

We have a busy half term programme and I look forward to seeing you all at prize-giving on Thursday 27^th October at Rowfant House.

Abby's 2011 Welcome note available here