BRC National Combined Championships at Aston-Le-Walls 28th September 2025

 We Survived (and Smiled!)

by Tiffany Christer

A very early start in the pitch black for Team Madness (aka Claire, Me and Diane, our superb supporter!!) heading to the Combined Training Champs at Aston-Le-Walls! This was Claire and Magnus’ first ever champs – exciting stuff! Bleary-eyed chitchat was the theme of the morning as we dragged ponies in from the dark, gave them a “good enough” brush (did I mention it was pitch black?!), booted them up, and loaded with the help of the ever-lovely Diane, ready for the road trip.

We arrived to drizzle and greyness and thought we were in for a soggy slog – cue the course walk in the rain, blah! But the weather gods were kind, and just before we kicked off… out came the sunshine. Happy days!

Our timings sadly clashed but I decided to get Hattie tacked up and back on the box so I could watch Claire and Mags’ dressage test. And wow – they did brilliantly! He stayed calm, settled, and really held it together considering it’s probably the biggest event he’s done so far. What a superstar.

Back to Hattie – she felt a bit flat in the warm-up (not unusual for her, really 😅) so we did a light session and saved her energy for the main event. The course was long, chunky, and completely different from last year – spread across several fields with plenty of new challenges.

In the SJ phase, the ground was a bit slippy and, let’s be honest, neither Hattie nor I love that. We went for longer lines to stay balanced but sadly had 2 poles – not ideal, but the jumps were full up and we’ve been a bit out of practice lately! Then came XC… and she was a machine. A tad steady given the conditions, but she flew everything. I didn’t love the course or the footing, but Hats gave me all the confidence in the world – she’s a gem.

Claire and I ended up jumping at the same time, so I missed her round, but she said Magnus gave it his best shot. A couple of stops and a pole, but he did end up jumping everything and got round – a massive achievement at such a big venue. He was probably just a bit overwhelmed, but still such a good boy.

After the action, we sorted the ponies, got them weighed (as you do!), chatted with the lovely BHS team, then headed home – tired but happy.

A fab day out, full of fun, learning, and the best company. Onwards and upwards!