BRC National Arena Eventing Championship , Aston le Walls 30th May
By Diane Williams

Woke up way too early, but the sun was shining and we had an exciting day ahead of us. Both the Haffies had been scrubbed clean the day before so actually there was very little to do before Tiff and Ony turned up and we loaded Sky and Hattie and set off for Aston Le Walls.
The night before we had learnt that the main road in would be closed so we took a slightly longer route which turned out to be pot hole ridden and no fun at all but amazingly as we drove into the lorry park, there was Sara’s lorry and parked next to Corinne’s trailer and Kerry was heroically saving us a space next to them. Fantastic, the Team was all together!
We declared at the office and had our passports checked and picked up our free stable plaques (Kerry might have also acquired an honorary one) and waited for the course walk…and waited. Sadly due to a faller they were running 45 mins late which we would find would impact on all the timings for the rest of the day. Eventually a much shorter (timewise) course walk started, the XC jumps were full up and chunky with number 4 being a real challenge as it was a chunky wedge with a brush on top straight after the slope out of the water.
First on was Corinne and Nixie. The rest of the team gathered on the mound between the arenas to watch. They flew the show jumping and the two cross country jumps in the first arena and headed across the track to the water which Nixie was not keen on, but Corinne kept her moving and got her through, she cleared number 4 no problem, over the brush and headed to the corner where Nixie surprised everyone with a stop and side swerve where Corinne did a brilliant job of staying on. On re-presenting they cleared it but sadly Nixie wasn’t keen on the next double logs so briefly stopped again. The rest they absolutely flew and even managed to clear the Joker fence which most competitors were having down.
Next it was Sky and I. Sky was in shouty mood as we had left Hattie in the trailer (they don’t even like each other at home) and he bellowed like a stallion (he is very much a gelding) in the warm up, oh joy. Into the show jumping arena and he was feeling keen. We got round the first 7 jumps, although not exactly in harmony, and then rolled a pole at number 8. He flew the first 2 xc jumps and trotted through the water, cleared number 4 (phew) and went up the slope where he did not want to canter, so we trotted it, he cleared all the xc jumps and the ditch but sadly just did not make enough effort over 10cm higher Joker. I was pleased and relieved we had got round, still need to go faster but still really pleased
Tiff and Hattie were on 20 mins after me and Sky was fairly unbearable and deafening when he saw them, so I took him back to the trailer and annoyingly missed their round. However the reports from the team were that they had an amazing round! Sadly Hats rolled the same pole as Sky but she flew all the jumps and XC and even cleared the Joker and she did it 3 secs under the time. Hattie might be 20 but she is still up for some competition fun. Tiff was absolutely delighted, she had ridden her socks off and was really touched by all the clapping and positive comments as she left the arena.
Last on was Sara and Tango. Sara had stepped in as a last minute reserve at the qualifier at a height they do not usually compete at so this was a big ask for Tango. The rest of the Team assembled on the mound to watch, we were all willing them on over every jump. Tango rolled a couple of poles but cleared the first 2 xc jumps and cleared the water but as brushes were his nemesis at the qualifier we all knew number 4 was a question. Tango sadly answered with a no but it was universally agreed that they did amazingly well to get so far.
Out of 133 competitors Tiff and Hattie placed 26th. Our Team was placed 16th out of 25, but it is all about enjoying the day and as a Team we had a brilliant time. Huge thank you to Ony and Kerry for being amazing ground crew and to Meon for giving us the opportunity to go.