2006

Diary August Week 1

 A great week was had by all in Pardubice. Mark and Tanya flew out on Tuesday night.
We though t we would let Lauren tell it in her own words.....

Diary of a Young Rider by Lauren Shannon 

You have probably heard about the fantastic result the GB Young Rider Team achieved at their European Championships in Pardubice, Czech Republic earlier this month. Well here is a behind the scenes look at what went on with the team…

July 25^th-28^th

We all turned up (and for the most part on time!) on Tuesday at Eddie Stibbe’s magnificent yard at Waresley, Cambridge for our team’s final concentration before the horses were shipped out with our grooms on Saturday. It was a great week where all the girls got to know each other better and it really felt like we were starting to become a team! Poor Anne-Marie Young was the only parent to brave the week, even when we were locked out of the yard when we returned from dinner at the local pub one night (we weren’t that late!). We all had lessons everyday to perfect all our previous work, and even had our final canter with Yogi Breisner. Friday came very quickly, and we all packed up and said goodbye to the horses as they were to leave on Saturday and we weren’t going to be in the Czech Republic until Monday.

 July 31^st- August 7^th

The team met at Gatwick Monday morning to fly out together with David Merrett, Gill Watson and Alex Colquhoun. Needless to say we were all far too hyper on the outward journey and arrived to pouring rain in Prague. We then had a 2 hour drive to Pardubice in which we were all separated into groups of 3 as we were probably too much of a handful altogether. On arrival we were taken straight to the horses to give them an evening hack to stretch their legs after the long journey. We then had a nice quite dinner at a local pizzeria and an early night (Quite civil really!).

 Tuesday was also quite quiet, and the weather was scorching so we started early and finished riding by eleven in the morning! We then spent a very sophisticated afternoon at a café in the old square in Pardubice and window shopping in the city. It didn’t really feel like we were at a Championships, we were all far too relaxed! The competition felt like it was ages away, when it was in reality due to start the next day!

Wednesday seemed like another quiet day, with riding in the morning, and the grooms dealing with cleaning up the horses and plaiting. We actually went back to our hotel to change into our (matching) trot up gear and were basically handed the horses all ready when we arrived at the racecourse. It was an uneventful trot up, which is the best kind really and afterward we were taken to Pardubice Castle for the opening ceremony. It was a parade with all the nations followed by a jousting display, during which we were nearly crushed by a jousting horse! After that, we were taken upstairs for drinks and a reception, which was very nice. We headed back to the hotel quite early though, because the next day was the dressage for the first two team members and both our individuals.

Thursday was the first day that it felt like we were at a proper competition. Alice Dunsdon was the first person on our team to compete, and she did a lovely test to start the team out on 58.1. Tanya Buckingham was the first individual to compete, and she also did a very good test, getting a 53.3.I was the last tem member to compete on Thursday, and did a test I was very happy with, and got a 50.4. Rosanna Crossley, our other individual rider, then rode in the afternoon, and did another impressive dressage test, with a mark of 52.3.#

Thursday night was very subdued, as we all were waiting to see how Amy Young and Gemma Tattersall did in their tests on Friday. We needn’t have worried, both put in amazing tests, with Amy getting a 48.5, and Gemma getting a 51.5! This put our team in silver position going into x-country. Not only that, but Tanya, Rosanna, Amy and I all did personal bests on our dressage scores!

We went to a really nice restaurant with the selectors and trainers and went to bed early, in preparation of the x-country the next day, when really we wanted to celebrate good dressage scores!

Saturday was very wet, if nothing else. The weather had slowly been deteriorating over the week, and by Saturday the ground was very bad in places. The x-country course was all based inside the racecourse, and there was a lot of sand and ploughed areas which we had to ride over, and they all turned to soup by the time we were riding. Despite this, the course rode surprisingly well, and the day went almost foot perfect, with no one from the British camp getting any jumping penalties. I managed to have a fall on the flat only just past fence 3 when we slipped in some puddles in the trees, but I remounted quickly and only got 11 time penalties, which is quite good considering!

Saturday night was spent at another reception at the racecourse. There were a few speeches at the beginning from the organizers and a dance floor, which we used a little bit, although, because we had moved up to gold medal position during the day, we were careful that we got home nice and early!

Sunday started with the final trot up, which all our horses passed, although Tanya Buckingham decided to withdraw her horse, What’s Happening Now, when he came up lame Sunday morning, which we can only assume came from him getting cast or something similar overnight. Although this put a huge damper on the mood, we all had to keep going and concentrate on the show jumping. It was another very wet day, and poles were flying left and right. Alice was the first to go, and she did a nice looking round, but the ground was very holding, and she had 4 fences down. I was the next person to ride, and was happy with my round, just tapping two fences and getting 4 time penalties, which I was a little disappointed with. Rosanna then did a good round having 3 unfortunate poles. Gemma did very well, but sadly had 2 rails, despite having a lovely looking round. Amy went under enormous pressure, as she was riding not only for team gold, but also for individual medal. She did a foot perfect, incredible round, without touching a rail, and won both gold medals. 

The only thing left to do at that stage was celebrate…and we had a huge dinner with everyone involved with the team, from grooms to parents. The team then moved on to one of the few bars in Pardubice, and I’ll just say that we were out quite late, and the pictures were quite funny!