Looking back, but moving forward: 2013 review

What a year it has been in the equestrian world. With lots of firsts, triumphs, thrills and spills across British equestrian sport and disciplines with Team GB leading the forefront of the equine success story. This success has meant British equestrian sport is now not just internationally recognised, but internationally honoured and respected with leading competitors in dressage, show jumping, eventing and Paralympic events. This drive to get equestrian sport out there is something that has been reflected in the student population of De Montfort University, who have been determined to push equestrian sport at university to the front of sporting disciplines. The committee for DMU Equestrian have worked hard this year to set in stone the importance and value of this amazing sport and have had the best success ever so far this year. With a record number of sign ups at the freshers fair kicking things off, the number of rider's who signed to tryout was also the best that DMU has ever seen with lots of positive engagement from the students and other sports teams at the university.

Some of the DMU team rider's at the christmas gymkhana games

The club have worked on developing the number of rider's who come to Witham Villa by holding events for beginners such as the very successful horse care day, that allowed beginner rider's to take part and learn basic horse care skills. Dressage demonstration from Verity Saul, the yard owner and dressage rider at Witham Villa was something that inspired all of our team rider's to get back into the saddle and take the reins to do their very best in the dressage discipline. The fun gymkhana day at the end of term was an alternative way for the team rider's to let off some steam after a successful season competing so far this year. The commitment to training for the competitive teams has been improved by the generous funding from Fidelity Group who have sponsored the BUCS teams in their fight to push for bigger, better results. Alongside this, the society have created their most successful naked charity calendar to date, with a record number of sales and the most exciting and adventurous photos ever seen. The club hosted a 'Night at the Races' charity launch night for the calendar at Bowstring bar in Leicester with horse and dog races, student drinks with donations to charity and calendar sales. The night was a huge success with a great turnout from other societies, sports teams and students who all dressed to impress in order to help support the RDA, a fantastic local group Kimberley House who support and improve the lives of people living with disability through horse riding care and therapy.

The 2013/2014 Committee at the Naked Calendar Launch

The support has been continued through the award winning student media, 'The Demon', with the radio and newspaper offering their full support to the equestrian's with regular features to allow them to promote their sport and keep the student population up to date on their activities. The integration of the sport into different areas of the university has been key to the success they have achieved so far this year, as well as the development and support of their home yard and the trainers and staff working with them. With two home competitions under their belt and lots of positive individual results, the team is positively engaging with the desire to achieve the best results possible to make equestrian sport at DMU better than ever. With 2014 just around the corner, DMU Equestrian have already got their competition preparations in place for next year with some equi-pilates classes set for January to get the team fighting fit for the next set of fixtures. The development of their BUCS rider's will be focussed on in preparations for this year's Varsity match against Leicester university as DMU fight to get the best team ready to go and compete in the biggest event of the year and get the best results possible.

It's safe to say that Equestrian is not just a developing sport at DMU, but the fastest expanding sport in Britain with more and more people getting involved in all things horse in sport. This success can be measured by the amazing triumph of none other, than the leading lady herself, Charlotte Dujardin. The double Olympic champion and her prolific partner, Valegro gained the biggest success of their career at the 2013 Olympia dressage freestyle championships. The 28 year old achieved a record breaking 93.975% in her last ever performance of the dressage test that grasped her gold in 2012. Dujardin is a reflection of the true hard work and dedication that the sport requires, her near perfect score at yesterday's Olympia freestyle signifies a key moment in equestrian history for Britain, and a well earned achievement for both horse and rider. As Olympia continues, Team GB look for more success stories with the puissance and show jumping just around the corner. Who will win the Christmas Cracker? I know DMU Equestrian will be watching to make sure they find out first.

World number 1, Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro @Olympia

Acknowledgements 

A final massive thank you to Witham Villa and all of the staff and horses who have supported us and are helping every single rider reach their own individual goals and achieve their equestrian dreams. To our sponsors, Fidelity Group for helpign us to achieve this by sponsoring our BUCS team rider's allowing them to work towards a positive future. A final thank you to everyone who has supported us with our riding, competitions, photography, charity work and society, we are ever anticipating the start of 2014!

Keep up to date with us via Twitter @DMUEquestrian and let us know all your horsey happenings over the Christmas period!

Trotting to the top - BUCS A Team Match Review

As the first term comes to a close for De Montfort, Wednesday 4th of December saw the last of the A team fixtures at Witham Villa Riding Centre with DMU Equestrian finishing, what has already been a successful year on home ground. With dressage and show jumping training now happening every week, the team were anxious to get out there and show off all their hard work over the past few months, since their victorious success at Sheffield University just a few weeks ago.

Jenny Walker and Monty

The team to represent DMU at home comprised of four top rider's; Jenny Walker, Clare Wilyman, Gemma Elliott and Georgia Aston who at their recent BUCS competition came back with some fantastic individual and team results for De Montfort. The team were hoping for the same successful streak to follow them back home to compete with some never before seen horses being used for the first time in BUCS for De Montfort. Judge of the day Richard Baldwin, a regular dressage judge at Witham Villa anticipated a great day of showing ahead for all the teams competing in the university league and was excited to be working alongside the university rider's for the day

Georgia Aston and Todd

The teams competing included some of the top British universities for equestrian sport with Loughborough, Nottingham and Nottingham Trent all part of the big BUCS league alongside De Montfort. With the regularity of training and focus dedicated to improving upon individual needs and goals, De Montfort were in for a promising day to gain some high scores and top results with the standard of riding higher than ever before. The dressage set for the day included some of Witham's top dressage horses, some that have competed up to medium regional level, a standard of exceptional dressage performance.

Clare Wilyman and Dexter

Monty- A stunning, 16.2hh bay gelding bred right on Witham's doorstep. Monty has qualified for the British Dressage summer regionals at Preliminary level and currently competes BD novice and elementary level dressage.
Victor- One of De Montfort's favourite dressage boys, the gorgeous 16.1hh gelding, Victor. Imported from Holland in 2012, Victor has competed in all disciplines and is being schooled currently to further his dressage. Victor qualified for the Preliminary senior regionals with Jenny Walker and is set to have a bright and promising dressage career ahead of him!
Todd- A lovely 15.2hh bay gelding, also imported from Holland. Todd has evented prior to coming to Witham and this was to be his first ever BUCS competition.
Dexter- 15.2hh Irish sport, the cheeky chestnut gelding Dexter is a horse who has competed in numerous BUCS competitions over the past 2 years. He has competed in Prelim and Novice level dressage never gaining less than 60% in all of his tests. A stunning horse with some impressive paces, one to watch for in the future.

The dressage commenced at 10am, with some fabulous and accurate tests displayed from all the teams, with De Montfort gaining some very impressive scores. Savvy show jumper, Gemma Elliott rode Victor and trotted out of the arena with 72.8%, a massive achievement for both horse and rider who were ecstatic with the result.

Gemma Elliott and Victor

With the sunshine continuing into the afternoon, the show jumping phase was ready to commence at 1pm. Some of the horses from the B team home competition including; Harrison, Ben and Caesar were to compete again with the new addition of Benji, the bold, bay thoroughbred who has competed in numerous university competitions and finished in 3rd place at the BHS Riding Schools Final in 2013.

The course comprised of 8 fences including; a dog leg, double, related distance and two spreads all set at 90cm BUCS league match height. There were some impressive and clear rounds displayed from all the teams, and the day finished on a high for everyone involved, after an intense few weeks of training by all who took part, finally paying off in the end with the rosette ceremony highlighting some of the highest scores of the season so far.

With the season coming to a close, DMU Equestrian set their sights to next year and the start of the 2014 BUCS matches. A huge improvement has been displayed from all the rider's and the promise of more individual and higher team placings is still the aim for all of our BUCS competitors. A massive congratulations to all the A team rider's for their achievement at their home yard as we continue to see them grow and develop more positively as a team.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DMU A TEAM:

Jenny Walker

Gemma Elliott

Clare Wilyman 

Georgia Aston

Clare Wilyman and Harrison

Georgia Aston and Benji

Don't forget to keep up with all the latest horsey happenings on Twitter @DMUEquestrian and via our Facebook page 'DMU Equestrian Society'

BUCS B Team saddle up for the season at home

Becky Shraga and Willow

Wednesday 27th of November saw De Montfort Equestrian Team host the first home competition of the year at Witham Villa Riding School and the first league match for the BUCS B Team universities. De Montfort have been training hard in preparation for the day with the A Team BUCS home match to be closely followed on the 4th of December.

Gabbi Berrill and Breeze

The team competing on the day comprised of  four of DMU's top rider's who have all been working hard at home to ensure the best results possible. The team is headed by none other than DMU Equestrian's, Becky Shraga, a committee member for the past two years, and fierce competitor who has watched DMU Equestrian grow and develop as a successful society in the last three years. Becky has been working hard all summer competing in British Dressage at home to enable her to come back ready to push her team into action for the BUCS season ahead. Helen Whittle was the first fresher to join the B team this year hoping to build upon her dressage skills and represent DMU by competing for the university. The bold blondie was extremely enthusiastic about joining the team after competing on her own horse in various show jumping disciplines prior to coming to De Montfort, and has found herself to be right at home with the girls at DMU Equestrian. The second fresher to join B team is Lizzie Mole, who has been an avid equestrian her whole life with her own horses at home, but was out to try something new and gain some extra experience in both dressage and show jumping to further herself in the competitive equestrian world. The final team member was Gabbi Berrill, also a committee member who rode alongside Becky Shraga on the C team last year both acting as true examples of the progress and success equestrian can offer riders who want to get themselves back into competing but in a totally new environment and style.

With a solid team ready to go, DMU Equestrian were raring to start off the season at their home yard, competing alongside some of the top universities for equestrian sport in the country including; Loughborough, The University of Leicester and The University of Nottingham.

B Team Captain Becky Shraga and Willow

With the weather on their side, a perfect sunny morning saw the dressage commence from 9.30am with some top horses in use including;
Spider, the chestnut gelding schoolmaster who has competed up to elementary level dressage.
Breeze, a stunning bay gelding and one of Witham's newest horses and a firm favourite amongst the DMU rider's who competes in all Pony Club and Prelim Dressage activities currently.
Willow, a striking Welsh section D black mare, who has competed at Witham Villa in various dressage competitions and is being schooled to further her jumping.
Dexter, a lovely chestnut gelding who has competed in dressage with yard manager Alison West and is becoming a regular horse used for team training with DMU Equestrian since coming back into work.

B team all rode extremely well in the dressage with some pleasing rounds and very high collective marks displayed from all! All of the rider's beat their team tryout scores showing a definite improvement in the regularity of team training occurring once a week now as a result of the generosity of Fidelity Group's sponsorship. Becky Shraga took the leading score for DMU with an impressive 66.4% on Willow, a very positive result for both horse and rider.

Gabbi Berrill and Harrison

After a short break for lunch, the horses for the jumping phase were shown around the course which included a dog leg, double, two spreads and a related distance to challenge the rider's ability to the max. The horses used for jumping were a mixture of 16hh thoroughbreds right through to 14hh ponies.
Ben, a 16.2hh bay gelding, imported form Holland who has competed in affiliated dressage, pony club activities, cross country and BHS Riding School registered competitions.
Harrison, a dark bay gelding who is a definite favourite for DMU Equestrian, competing in dressage and show jumping disciplines since coming to Witham Villa.
Preston, a super pony who competes regularly in pony club activities and dressage, who is always eager to please all who ride him.
Caesar, a 16.2hh bay gelding, who has competed at Witham alongside DMU for a number of years, as well as in affiliated dressage and all pony club/ show jumping activities.

DMU Equestrian rode positively with lots of clear rounds in the show jumping, with top score for DMU coming from Gabbi Berrill on Harrison closely followed by her team mates who all beat their tryout scores again! Despite coming team 4th place, the B team girls did a fantastic job at representing DMU and have all had personal bests and successes of their own for the day. As the first competition of the year, the team couldn't have done DMU Equestrian prouder with a solid set of results displayed at the end of the day from all. The team carry on their hard work and training in preparation for their next competition at The University of Nottingham in a few weeks time.

CONGRATULATIONS AND WELL DONE AGAIN TO DMU EQUESTRIAN BUCS B TEAM;

BECKY SHRAGA (Captain) 

GABBI BERRILL

LIZZIE MOLE

HELEN WHITTLE

A massive thank you to everyone who came and supported on the day as well as all the committee members and Witham Villa for being fabulous hosts as always. Another huge thank you to Fletch Photography who captured the day for DMU Equestrian with lots of stunning photos of our rider's and horses.

Photography Copyright of @FletchPhotography

Lizzie Mole and Ben

Helen Whittle and Preston