Chronicle Spring 2022

59 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Equestrian By Charlie Hall, Parent Equestrian Coordinator Last year was a bit quieter on the Equestrian front, partly due to Covid, which cancelled many of the competitions, and also because several pupils were unlucky with lame horses. Despite not having a Teddies team out, there were some great individual performances. William Naylor (Shells) and his horse Rubin represented Teddies in the Schools’ Eventing Championships at Calmsden in September. They jumped clear rounds in both the show jumping and the cross country, picking up a few time faults to finish just outside the placings. In October, William and Rubin competed in an arena cross-country competition at Aston le Walls where they jumped a lovely clear round and finished just two seconds off the winning time. This qualified them for the Bloxham Schools’ Eventer Challenge Championship, where they finished fourth individually – a fantastic achievement. Bert Souter (Shells) had a busy and fun season eventing last year, competing regularly with his 14.2hh Welsh mare. He represented his Pony Club at the National

William Naylor

Championships in August, with an individual eighth place and a team fourth and was also selected to represent the Central Under 18 team to compete at the British Eventing Youth National Championships at Bishop Burton, Yorkshire in July, to take a team win. Bert is continuing his training over the winter months in preparation for the eventing season. Izzy Hall (Upper Sixth) was part of the 2021 GBR Youth Performance

Development Eventing Squad. Sadly due to Covid, Great Britain were unable to take a team to the Europeans, which was very disappointing. Izzy has been training hard over the winter to have her horses ready for this year’s eventing season. Bea Montgomerie (Fifth Form) was also selected for the Under 18 National Championships at Bishop Burton in July being part of the Central team and was a counting score for team second overall. Bea won the Pony Club Intermediate Championships individually and the Team Championship for Beaufort in August. Later that month, Bea ran two horses at Wellington in the PC Open Team and both were counting scores to win the Open Championship for Beaufort too. Bea has been selected for the 2022 GBR Youth Performance European Development Squad (Eventing) which is a fantastic achievement. Venetia Hamilton (Lower Sixth) had a successful first half of the event season, competing at Aston le Walls, Eland Lodge and Cholmondeley and also representing her Pony Club. Unfortunately her horse had a freak accident during the summer and broke his jaw, so eventing was put on hold. He is now fine and they are working on their training, in order to be ready for the season ahead. There are several new members of the Equestrian Squad and we look forward to having many successful results in both eventing and show jumping over the coming months.

Bea Montgomerie