England trial nominee selected!
Each branch is invited by Headquarters to send a mounted games rider to take part in the selection process in March for a place on the England Mounted games team, performing at the Windsor Horse Show in 2010. Over the last few years the branch has been extremely successful with Ki Ashmore, Georgia Drummond and Georgina Bell riding for their country.

On Sunday 8th November, 4 members took part in the branch trial to go forward for selection. It really was a coming together of the "cream of the crop" as all 4 represented the branch at the recent Horse of the Year Show. The standard of turnout was high and the team spirit and co-operation between the 4 riders was to be commended.

The whole trial was so very close with barely a whisper between the four. However, on the day, Amy Hollinshead was successful, with Emmie Davidson Slack being selected as a reserve nominee. An enormous well done and congratulations to Amy. Gail and I would like to thank all the four riders for their positive attitude. They were all a credit to the branch and we were full of admiration for their skill and expertise that was displayed throughout the trial.

Finally, thanks to Pennie Drummond, Richard Marsden and all the parents for their help.

Stop press! Additional mounted games news - Georgina Bell is being put forward to be considered for selection for the Great Britain mounted games teams for 2010. WOW!!! Good luck Georgina!

Winter League Show Jumping - 7th November 2009 - Southview.
It was Berwyn & Dee and Tanatside's turn to host a winter league competition and they held theirs at Southview. Our Littlies in Class 1 came 5th, with Becky Thomas coming 4th individually. The other team members were Annabel Carthy, Jessica Harby and Lucy Pedley. Katherine Smith and Alex Vickers were on a mixed team, and they came 4th. Our Class 2 team (Abigail Jones, Emily Hocknell, and Dan Drummond) came 6th. We had two teams in Class 3. The Lions (Sarah Gilsenan, Leah Connor, Tabitha Ridley-Thomas and Charlotte Brunt) came 2nd with Charlotte getting a double clear. The Tigers (Rob Gilsenan, Amy Hollinshead, Charlie Preston and Abby Spurrell) were just out of the placings. In Class 4 our team (Ki Ashmore, Georgia Drummond, Bethany Hodgson and Alice Ford-Ward) came 4th. Well done to all of you.

Weekend Successes 26th-27th September 2009:
Show Jumping: Well done to Jessica Harby, Tabitha Ridley-Thomas and Leah Connor who made the trip to Anglesey for the first Winter League fixture of the season. Jessica did a double clear and her team came 5th in Class 1. Tabitha and Leah both had double clears in Class 3 and Tabitha came 1st individually! Their team came 5th. All three entered the Dengie qualifier - Jess and Tabitha were both clear in the first, but had 4 in the second. Leah did a double clear but was just outside the qualifying places. Well done to you all!
Dressage: Anglesey Pony Club also held a Dengie Dressage qualifier. Leah entered, rode brilliantly, came 5th and qualified!! Well done Leah!

Area Show Jumping - 4th August 2009:
Open: Our team of Georgina Hayward, Jess Lee, Eleanor Hayward and Holly Kapusniak competed well and finished 4th overall. Special congratulations to Holly who achieved double clear, finished 2nd individually and qualified for the Individual Championships.
Intermediate: Our team of Ki Ashmore, Georgia Drummond, Olivia Arrowsmith and Emily Godfrey-Lowe rode brilliantly and finished 2nd overall. Big pats on the bag for Olivia who achieved a double clear, finished 3rd individually and qualified for the Intermediate Individual Champs.
Novice: By far the largest class of the day, we had two teams competing: the Lions were Emily Hodge, Ros Darlington, Bethany Hodgson and Charlotte Brunt; the Tigers were Amy Hollinshead, Emmelia Davidson-Slack, Katie Vernon and Sharna McClelland. Our Lions team finished 7th and well done to Bethany for her double clear; and our Tigers team finished 10th and well done to Emmelia for her double clear.
Newcomers: Not to be forgotten, we had a Newcomers team competiting. They were Abigail Jones, Maia Hodgson, Dan Drummond and Annabel Carthy. Millie Darlington competed as an individual. They all jumped brilliantly and the team finished on a zero total and came 4th. Mille achieved a double clear.
Well done to you all!

Weekend Successes 4th-5th July 2009:
Eventing: Our team of Georgina Hayward, Eleanor Hayward, Jess Lee and Emma Silman WON the Cheshire Shield today! Emma came 2nd individually and Eleanor came 5th. Although not on a team, Tor Davis came 6th as an individual. In Class 3 Bethany Hodgson came 6th. In Class 4 Annabel Carthy came 4th.
What a fantastic day for Cheshire Hunt North and for all of you! WELL DONE!
Zone Mounted Games Competition - Sunday 5th July (Newark & Notts Showground)
Both our Senior and Junior teams performed fantastically. Our Senior team was unlucky not to win and earn the coveted HOYS place, but by finishing 2nd they do qualify for the Runners Up Competition at the Pony Club Championships where the winners will go onto HOYS. All the team rode brilliantly and it was a true display of horsemanship, teamwork combined with determination. The team did the branch proud! Enormous thanks to all, most importantly to Richard Marsden the A team trainer. We have our fingers crossed for the championships and hope lady luck does too. The Juniors were next... they started eratically, steadied themselves, got into their rhythm and by the penultimate race were unbeatable - they had WON! Proud parents cheered them on as they took their lap of honour - congratulations to this young team who will now compete in the Junior Finals at the Championships. Hopefully some photos will follow this report.

Weekend Successes 15th-17th May 2009:
Friday Night Dressage: Well done to all those who took part. Thank you to Liz Sutton for organising it. Click HERE for results.
International Mounted Games: Congratulations to Georgina Bell and the rest of the England team for their resounding victory in the Daks Home International Mounted Games at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. The squad won all six sessions. They also won the Tack & Turnout competition and the Best Kept Stable competition too! Well done Georgina!

NOVICE SHOW JUMPING RALLY - 25th April 2009
The sun shone, the grass glistened and all was well at Limes Farm! Just waiting for the fun to begin - oh and what fun was had by all! It was the first of our summer outdoor rallies and the weather was perfect. We had a good turn out and it was lovely to see some older members who wanted to practice jumping a course on grass, in preparation for the event season. A huge welcome also to a new member, Olivia, who was taking part in her first rally. Rob was the instructor for the afternoon and he had devised some valuable warm up exercises to get the ponies and their riders focused for the job in hand. Each rally was a mix of warm up exercises making sure the riders realised how important straightness is when jumping the fences, followed by putting a course together. The younger members walked the course before they jumped it, with Rob explaining why it was important to walk the lines you wanted your ponies to take.

Each lesson ended with a mini competition. GFF saddlery, (on Deans Lane, Barthomley.) on hearing about the rally had very kindly donated some £5 vouchers to present to the winners. Sweets were also up for grabs!

The course was set, each rider had a practice round then suddenly the horns all came out! Who said competitive sport was dead?!!! Gosh! With the help of Mark's I phone, the stop watch was primed and the competition began! Putting into practice all they had learnt over the afternoon, it was a very entertaining finish to each lesson for all, and highly entertaining for the spectators! Well done to all the riders, especially Lucy and Becky who won their mini competition. Most improved rider of the afternoon was William. Well done to you! Well done to all the members. The standard of turnout was, as usual, extremely high, and it was a pleasure to spend the afternoon with you all.

The riders also took advantage of the games equipment and dressage arena set out in the field and great fun was had by all - especially the unmounted siblings who had their own little games competition going on!!

A big thank you to Rob and all the parents for making the afternoon an enormous and enjoyable success. I can't wait for the next one!!
Joan

Weekend Successes 28th/29th March 2009:
Horse & Pony Care: Due to the change of date we were only able to send one Junior team to this competition. Eleanor Hazlewood, Katherine Smith and Xanthe Goldsack represented CHN in this qualifier and were delighted to come home in 5th place. Despite it being their first competition they performed extremely well and were complimented by the organisers for their manners and turn out. Well done girls.
Mounted Games: The Senior A team very bravely went to Northumberland this weekend for a friendly competition at Hexham on Sunday. They travelled on Saturday and stabled at the racecourse for Sunday morning's competition. Well worth it - they came a close second to Percy Hunt - an excellent start to their campaign to qualify for HOYS again. The team was Georgina Bell, David Williams, Ros Darlington, Amy Hollinshead and Emmelia Davidson-Slack.
Riding & Road Safety: A large number of our members turned out on Saturday to do their Riding & Road Safety badge; the smaller members doing the achievement badge. Huntersgate was transformed into a number of roads and junctions with a zebra crossing, road signs, road works and people walking their dogs. Fiona Cayzer and PC Such coached the children through the required elements, with the older children finishing the day with a supervised hack around the roads at Huntersgate. Well done All!