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