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Find out all about this weeks winners, their horses, their plans for the season and inspirations as well as learning what will be in their celebration ‘Chicken Dinner’.
If you have a win this week, we’ll help you shout it from the roof tops so get in touch at events@thegaitpost.com to be featured or tweet us @thegaitpost using the tag #TGPwinnerwinnerchickendinner
All disciplines welcome.
Amelia Hattersley © ES Photography
What are your aims for 2017 for this horse?
Aiming to hopefully get picked to compete for the Northern team at Frickley Park Horse Trials in the CCIJ* U18s Championships this summer
Is this your first time at this event, or are you a regular? If a regular, what keeps you coming back? If a first timer, will you be back?
This is my first time at Belton, I will definitely be back! Lovely big and bold course, with amazing atmosphere! Aim is to do the OIu21 next year at Belton as the course is brilliant!
Who is the biggest influence in your eventing career to date?
I would say my trainer James Adams, and also my love for eventing and competitions!
Who is the unsung hero of your team and why?
Definitely my Mum! She keeps my horses fit and looks after them whilst I’m at school, she takes me everywhere, always there for me, and walks all the courses with me giving me as much advice as she can. 100% my rock.
What is the one thing you wish you’d known before you started eventing?
To get every phase done correctly and well is very difficult!! But that’s what strives us eventers to continue practising and training to keep improving.
Describe the funniest “blooper” you have experienced eventing
When at Allerton, I managed to fall off in the dressage warm up, show jumping warm up and xc warm up! To this day I don’t even know how I managed it…
Which is your favourite event & why?
I don’t have a favourite as every horse trials I’ve been to has been amazing in different ways, but I think Belton, Oasby, Floors Castle and Hopetoun are some of my many favourites because of the incredible atmosphere and beautiful locations they are set in and surrounded by!
What is your current favourite lorry karaoke song?
Any song which is easy to sing along too!
Fiona Breach
What are your aims for 2017 for this horse?
He is going to Ballendenisk to do the CCI** and then will be aimed at the Gatcombe Intermediate Championships, Blenheim 8&9 year old class and if all goes well, Boekelo CCI3*.
Is this your first time at this event, or are you a regular? If a regular, what keeps you coming back? If a first timer, will you be back?
First time at the event, very well run and a friendly event with beautiful surroundings. Will definitely be back!
Who is the biggest influence in your eventing career to date?
My father is my biggest influence in my career he has supported me relentlessly throughout the years.
Who is the unsung hero of your team and why?
Josh Ellington, who is my travelling head groom, he has been with me for three years now. He has an amazing work ethic and inspires me to succeed. He is well organised and works extremely hard.
What is the one thing you wish you’d known before you started eventing?
If there was one thing I wish I knew about eventing before starting out it would be the cost of success in such a sport!
Describe the funniest “blooper” you have experienced eventing
My funniest blooper eventing to date would have to be jumping at Gatcombe in front of my owners and being jumped off and struggling to get back on my 17.2hh horse.
Which is your favourite event & why?
Le Lion is my favourite event, it was my first oversea international event and I have great memories of the weeks that I have been there with my 6 and 7 year olds.
What will be in your “Chicken Dinner” and what will you wash it down with?
“Chicken dinner” would have to be surf and turf, washed down with a glass of prosecco.
What is your current favourite lorry karaoke song?
My favourite lorry karaoke song would be anything Cheesey to sing along to on the way home.
Amber Woodhouse © Ultimate Images
“Pony” can be quite cheeky at home sometimes but he loves performing and is becoming so consistent! He wouldn’t have the biggest paces, but as soon as he sees the white boards he just waits for instructions and always does his best, and is usually in the top few after dressage. This was his first time doing a test at Novice level, so it was really exciting to score 28. He is off to Aston Le Walls next week for his first novice.
What are your aims for 2017 for this horse?
I have had ‘Pongo’, known as ‘Pony’ at home, for 2 years – I bought him to produce and sell as an FEI pony, as he is amazing in all 3 phases, but last year he grew and grew and now stands at a very frustrating height of 15.1hh. So, the new aim is to successfully compete at one star level this year then sell him on; hopefully he will go on to win a Junior GBR medal if he can’t win a pony one!
Is this your first time at this event, or are you a regular? If a regular, what keeps you coming back? If a first timer, will you be back?
We used to be regulars, but I have spent quite a few years producing and selling now so haven’t been out eventing properly since I was attempting (unsuccessfully!) to get on the Junior GBR team in 2009/10. We LOVE Goring, it’s always brilliantly run and everyone on the team are just so friendly and helpful. We got very lost(!) – god knows how as ‘locals’ – but between the event team, they organised us to be driven round the XC course instead of walking it (thank you to Roger!!), so that we didn’t hold up the event…maybe we should be that late more often, it was quite a luxury!
Who is the biggest influence in your eventing career to date?
Pippa Funnell winning the Grand Slam in 2003 is definitely what inspired me to want to compete and win at top level, and I haven’t lost that ambition. It was then Jill Storey at Stonar School who got me into eventing, by planting the seed in my head that my pony might be good enough for pony trials. It didn’t happen but I’ve been hooked ever since! Then Michael Jung, Christopher Burton, and from other disciplines Carl Hester and Marcus Ehning are just inspirational, amongst many other top riders and producers.
Who is the unsung hero of your team and why?
There are SO many! I started running my own yard in 2012 and this year we have got the most fantastic, and now quite big team! It just would not run without anyone. I don’t think anything would happen without Anita McGarrigle, who helps me with pretty much everything and is a constant source of advice, no matter how busy she is running her own livery and training businesses, but really, everyone involved in keeping the yard running on a day to day basis is amazing, and I could not do it without them
I don’t have a lorry so every outing is quite an effort and requires a lot of dedication, commitment and working well over reasonable hours on a regular basis, and anyone who works with me knows I’m not the most organised person in the world(!), and they are all getting pretty good at guessing what I’m thinking and being very spontaneous!
What is the one thing you wish you’d known before you started eventing?
I wouldn’t say I’ve had the easiest route to where I am now, and still have a lot of learning to go, but I wouldn’t change any of it. Riding problem horses of all descriptions, racehorses, working and riding in dealing, show jumping, eventing yards and breeding studs amongst many other jobs, just to pay the bills has given me an amazing education that I could never have got from having one horse and regular lessons. Every horse teaches you something new and every bad experience makes you better. The bad days make you appreciate the good days, the bad years make you find other ways to learn, train and manage horses. I would say that I wish I’d valued training over competing more than I did until probably only last year! If your training is really good and secure, it’s easy to be confident enough as a partnership to perform in the ring the same as you would at home. If there are gaps in the training, they will show under pressure.
Describe the funniest “blooper” you have experienced eventing
We have had SO many funny days and funny experiences I wouldn’t know where to start. It is a miracle we make it through the day most of the time! But I’m so lucky that my team all understand how completely mad I am and just embrace it!
Which is your favourite event & why?
I absolutely love the way Keysoe’s cross country tracks ride. On the wiggly 3 hour drive we’re always questioning why we go there, but it’s the only course where I can see a stride to every fence miles out (pretty rare for me!), and the horses always come away feeling really confident. I also love any event where there is a friendly, helpful team running it. It makes such a difference to the day. Everyone works really hard to pay extortionate amounts to enjoy their weekend eventing; if the people running it don’t want to help you get the most out of your weekend, it doesn’t exactly encourage you to go back – sometimes we do have to remind ourselves we put ourselves through all the hard work because we find it fun!! So that is what it should be!
What will be in your “Chicken Dinner” and what will you wash it down with?
Usually McDonalds on the way back from the event….how bad is that whoops!
What is your current favourite lorry karaoke song?
We are usually so late that the lorry journey is spent working out the fastest way to get there and planning how once we get there, the fastest way to get the horse into the dressage arena! Who runs to the secretary, who puts the saddle on etc; it is always light hearted and we usually laugh a lot on our eventing trips! Although last year when I was working for Gina Miles in California, I remember us all singing the Adele song ‘Hello’ a lot…very loud!
Owen Cooper © Ultimate Images
What are your aims for 2017 for this horse?
She will compete at novice level this year with hopefully an intermediate or two at the end of the year.
Is this your first time at this event, or are you a regular? If a regular, what keeps you coming back? If a first timer, will you be back?
I compete regularly at Goring, it’s a local event for us and a really nice friendly event.
Who is the biggest influence in your eventing career to date?
Matt Ryan, triple Olympic gold medallist, I was his back up rider and worked there for four years.
Who is the unsung hero of your team and why?
All the team at home who keep things running while we are away, we could not do it without them.
What is the one thing you wish you’d known before you started eventing?
How expensive it is!!!!!!!
Describe the funniest “blooper” you have experienced eventing
Last week I got very wet in the water at Gatcombe!!!
Which is your favourite event & why?
Chatsworth, the courses are excellent and it is absolutely stunning there!
What will be in your “Chicken Dinner” and what will you wash it down with?
Steak and chips at the pub!!!
What is your current favourite lorry karaoke song?
Rihanna, under my umbrella!!!
Tanya Reid
What are your aims for 2017 for this horse?
Monty is hopefully going to the Badminton Mitsubishi Motors Cup in 3 weeks. We went last year but without a BE run as everything was rained off or we were balloted out, despite using our stickers. He did a competitive dressage, clear SJ and was fine until halfway round the xc when he suddenly looked at the crowds and missed the fence. But he completed within the time and was amazing apart from this blip. Hoping to get round this time without XC faults!
Is this your first time at this event, or are you a regular? If a regular, what keeps you coming back? If a first timer, will you be back?
Goring used to be my favourite event but I haven’t been since 2006 when I fell off in the Novice and lay in the bottom of the ditch at the trakehner. It was a very friendly event and extremely well run.
Who is the biggest influence in your eventing career to date?
Loads of influences; a week prior to Goring I had a lesson with Sam Jennings who helped me to curb Monty’s enthusiasm and balance him better into the jumps. At Goring, he met every XC fence right and in his stride so a big thank you to her. Mark Todd, obviously, as he has such ability to ride forward in balance and really help his horse and who of my generation wasn’t inspired by Lucinda Green and Regal Realm and Be Fair.
Who is the unsung hero of your team and why?
Lots of people help me; Kirsty Mepham, the Olympic dressage rider, judge and brilliant trainer, Judi Piper-Dadswell who understands all my hang-ups about show jumping, Cressida Sherston who does such a fabulous job with therapy for the horses, Harry Chapman who is a great farrier and my long-suffering husband, Will Reid, who puts up with horses and competing. Alex Chambers has been helping me as super groom and Dinah Smith was a star at Badminton. I also benefit enormously from help and regular training from the dressage trust, the TTT, who have helped me to understand the finer parts of the art of dressage. But my primarily my son, Dominic Timmons-Draude has helped endlessly with feeding, getting the horses in through the grim months of the winter and with exercising and who never complains.
What is the one thing you wish you’d known before you started eventing?
How to ride forward in balance, and the importance of the upper body as an aid.
Describe the funniest “blooper” you have experienced eventing
I came down the hill at Mill Hill Novice completely out of control ( I had decided to replace the horse’s pelham with a snaffle, for some unknown reason) towards the water and she jumped the rail and was about to bounce the step when she put down. I went flying and landed in the water with a huge splash. The crowd ( of which there were many) roared with laughter and I gave a bow as I emerged, covered in pond weed.
Which is your favourite event & why?
I really like Eridge, although it’s not everyone’s favourite event. They do wonders with the ground and, as it’s hilly, you need to do that old-fashioned thing and spend time getting your horse fit.
What will be in your “Chicken Dinner” and what will you wash it down with?
We have pedigree Sussex cows on our farm so a Sussex burger can’t be beaten. Champagne, naturally.
What is your current favourite lorry karaoke song?
We talk too much in the lorry to sing anything!
We have recently started a cross country training facility, Comphurst Cross Country, here in Windmill Hill, East Sussex, and we have had such brilliant feedback from eventing professionals, trainers, pony clubs, riding clubs and lots of grassroots riders so a big thank you for them for helping us to feel that it is all worthwhile.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Part 4 
Q&A with Dan Skelton 
Race between the Skeltons in the build-up to the Grand National Festival 
Nick Skelton CBE and Gold Medal partner, Big Star, to retire at Royal Windsor Horse Show 
In The Start Box, Part 2 
April 2017’s Super Seven things to do in London 
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