Horses and riders from all over the country travelled to the Kingdom of Fife to contest the Cavallo BHS TREC Championships of Great Britain.
Summer finally arrived and the championships were held in glorious sunshine, allowing competitors to fully enjoy the stunning scenery around Blairadam and the Lochore Meadows Country Park.
The testing POR route set by Karen Waite and the challenging PTV designed by Robert Oliver posed some fair tests requiring skilled orienteering and accurate riding. Two classes saw the 2011 Champions retain their crown, with both Hilary Barnard from Bristol once again taking the level 4 title and Clare Reynolds and Joy Taylor from Kent triumphing once more in the level 3 pairs.
Level 2 victor Bob Cripps and his consistent horse Jupiter’s Gold scored a whopping 60 points more than his nearest rival, Nicky Bunting on the coloured Samson. Having travelled from Surrey to compete, his win made the long journey well worthwhile.
Rachael Wilmot from Nottinghamshire and Jan Oldham from Derbyshire proved that TREC is suited to any type of horse or pony. As level two pairs champions they flew the flag for the native Fell pony and the Arab. Another native to prove his worth over the two-day competition was Galaxy, a Welsh cross ridden by Leigh Nixon from Northamptonshire who took the level 3 individual title.
Rachael and Jan also made up half of the winning team and were joined by Alex Wells from South Yorkshire and Lianne Bourne from East Ayrshire to take the team title. Lianne also took the Anne Williamson Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the Scot with the highest second day score. Lianne scored an impressive 169 for her PTV and control of paces.
Hilary Barnard added to her impressive prize haul by winning the Walbro Lucky Jim Trophy for the highest PTV score, registering 140 marks from an available total of 160.
The two officiating vets at the Championships were tasked with selecting the winner of the Jane Goldbart Memorial Trophy for the horse judged to be in the best condition throughout the competition. This was won by Chasing the Tiger, who was the mount of Di Skippon from East Sussex.
Best Presented Horse and Rider was awarded to Woodrow Snips and Colleen Macrae from Fife, judged to be the best turned out at all the phases and the two horse inspections. This was a great achievement given the recent wet weather and the fact that Snips is a grey!
For the full results from the Championships, visit www.bhs.org.uk