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Latest News
Taming the Dragon
Samba and Ocean headed off to the Red Dragon in October and had a blast. Ocean stayed at a horsey farm B&B with his own little paddock – we made a long weekend of it travelling down on the Thursday. The farm was fantastic lovely views, 20 minutes from the venue and fresh eggs. Julie our host went above and beyond – only horsey people offer takeout bacon sandwiches at 4.30am on ride morning. Samba stayed down at the venue in the stallion stables. He had a great time parading with the Irish team.
The weather was incredibly wet in the run up to the ride – lots of wet weather gear packed. Both horses were entered in the Little Dragon 80km ride on the Saturday. The route was amended slightly due to an impassable river crossing. Ride day dawned dry but with very low cloud. The plan was to take it steady near the back. The ride began with the 21 starters circling ready for the start – it was a controlled start with everyone sensibly trotting down the road behind the Starters car. Both horses were good and when we arrived at the bottom of the big hill we took it very steady – it’s a really long steep hill which on this occasion was completely covered in cloud.
We were crewed by Jan, Paddy and Mick in two 4X4 vehicles. It is just as well they had done their homework as far as mapping, reading directions and attending the brief; because the remote Vet Gate and crew points were not all easy to find.
The day flew by both horses going well together – Ocean mainly leading the way and Samba doing great speedy gate opening. There were two loops back to the remote vet gate – the trot ups here and at the venue were all inside. The going was good and the views between the clouds were fabulous, the hardest parts were the down hills. Then we were heading for home, it had been dry all day until this point when we had a cooling drizzle. Ocean speeded up over the last big hill and we had a blast. The horses raced for the line with Samba winning on the line. We came 12th and 13th having taken it safe and steady all day.
It’s a great trip – you should do it! The ride is brilliantly organised everything running like clockwork – lots of smiling helpers and great marking with meals available at the venue. It is possible to ride shorter distances on each day and have a lovely holiday. We will be back – but respect to the dragon – those hills are big!
Gill Brown & Sarah O’Neill
B&B contact www.cwmfillo.co.uk
Ride details www.endurancegb.co.uk/main/Red-Dragon
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Superb endurance stallion in Northumberland.
Endurance rider, ride organiser and committee member Sarah O’Neill has produced and brought on her stallion
Samba B Age 7
British Equestrian Futurity Awards: Higher First Premium in each of the three years 2013, 2014 and 2015 (age 1, 2 and 3)
Endurance: Advanced Level and FEI qualified.
Objective to do FEI * at Boyton Hall in September.
Tested negative for the Arab genetic disorders: SCID, CA, LFS and OAMM1
Congratulations to Sarah and those who have met Samba will agree he is a lovely personality and very bonny!
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Rosemary Granger and Glory
No Rosemary has not been ordained, Glory is the name of her skewbald mare.
Rosemary purchased Glory from Great Windsor Park for jumping. Glory got a surprise when she stepped out the lorry to a windswept hill in South Northumberland. Rosemary got a surprise when having parted company with Glory several times she realised Glory was a splendid jumper but that was where it ended. So they started endurance and found a sport they both love. After a year off with hock problems Glory and Rosemary started again. This time there was no stopping them. Such a lovely mare came to the attention of UKCC endurance coach Rachel Atkinson who has happily mentored the pair for the last year. They also attend regular lessons and discovered that twice weekly long reining kept them both fit (and the dog) Work on the gallops at Fourstones was added to the mix and riding out with local endurance friends Janet Lennard and Barbara Austin.
At Dialstone this year the pair attempted their first 60 with a vet gate and got a grade one. They have just followed this with success at the 50 km at the Scottish Champs, where the steep hills, rain and humidity slowed them down. But Glory proved to be a star at vet gate procedures, rosemary and husband Ian shaved 2 mins off her presentation time (6 mins) and reduced her final heart rate by 2 beats. Well done!
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