The last two months Pollyanna Equine has proudly sponsored USJL which is a locally run unaffiliated showjumping competition. It is held monthly at Oakingham Stud in south Oxfordshire.
Despite it being winter the weather has been very kind on both days. The latter day being gloriously sunny and as a result the turnout of riders even better. This is a lovely friendly show with events starting at Cross poles finishing the day with the 1 meter class. Pollyanna Equine has been sponsoring the 80cm senior class.
The facilities at Oakingham Stud are wonderful with a brilliant warmup arena and track for riders to keep the horses moving but out of the way of others who are jumping. The competition arena is lovely and spacious overlooking the beautiful local countryside.
The event is well run by Vicky and her team who are always welcoming and friendly. Its been lovely as a sponsor to be able to watch so many riders out competing. It was also very reassuring that any miss use of the whip or inappropriate behaviour in the competition ring was also dealt with accordingly. This is something that can’t be tolerated in the current climate when the social licence of horse sports is in the balance. Seeing a locally run event take this matter very seriously is good to see. It needs to be started at grass roots so that it doesn’t creep into higher level competitions where the general public will pass judgment. As an industry this needs to be taken quite seriously before there is no industry left.
It was also great to see horses being ridden barefoot and a few bitless. Bitless is something that I might have to consider with my young horse as he really doesn’t like a bit and it is reassuring to see people jumping a course of jumps in a big arena with no problems. By allowing individuals to compete their horse in this manner puts the horses welfare first.
It was also brilliant to see the winner of the 80cm Senior Joanne Webster fly around the course in an impressive time of 33.99 seconds to grasp the winning rosette. I still recall Jo saying “slow down” to her stead, Doolin Spirit (aka the Flying Dun), as he zoomed down a line of jumps. I feel he knew what he was doing and at what speed he could do it at.
All in all it is a well run and friendly event which I look forward to sponsoring again in the future and hope to see many local Oxfordshire people at.
Pollyanna FitzGerald (Msc³, Bsc² (Hons), EBW, MMAA, MRAMP) 