BRC Arena Eventing Qualifier – Moreton Equestrian 5th March 2026
By Diane Williams

Another Qualifier and another trip to Moreton and once again up at 4.30 am. I had kept Sky in to keep him clean and a brief check in the morning showed that no real grooming was needed yay! Meanwhile, I could hear Tiff and Ony hosing Ivy and Forest and quietly cursing the mud somewhere in the darkness of the yard. Gen collected us at just before 6am and we were off. We had a great run down there and arrived at about 7.30am, loads of time to sort a couple of stables out, get Sky and Fionn settled and to walk the course. The 60cm class started promptly at 8.45, from my prime position next to the arena on pole picking duty I could see Gen, Tiff and Ony warming up. Tiff’s baby horse Ivy was not impressed at the whole idea of this event and was in “Nope” mode, I turned to see her stop at a tiny cross pole so sharply that Tiff went over her head and brilliantly landed on her feet. The joys of youngsters! Gen and Fionn did a great round and placed 2nd and Ony and Forest also got round with Ony employing some super riding skills. Tiff and Ivy were eventually eliminated at jump number 5, but did really well to get that far given Ivy’s lack of co-operation. Charlotte Reid ‘s horse struggled with jump number 13 and Kerry on Angel had a sat nav error between skinny jumps 11 and 12. Sharon kindly relieved me from helper duties so I could get ready for the 80 class. Sadly, I missed most of my team mates rounds as I was on a bit later than they were, but Gen had an xc pole and the joker, Angel went clear but too fast, Daniel just had the joker down with Wolfy and Helen had a couple of unlucky poles. The weather suddenly changed just before my round, Sky and I were now soaked and not loving the bracing wind, but the round went surprisingly well. We managed nearly every corner on the wrong leg but to my surprise we went clear including the joker which was previously had always been our nemesis. By more luck than judgement we hit the allotted time and actually won the class!! I was shocked and over the moon and even more delighted finding out that the Team had also won… Woohoo – Aston Championships here we come. It was a fun long day out and huge thank you to our other helper Lisa Diamond.