Past Events

Le Trec Style Day

 

Burwood Western In Association With WES Area 8

 

The day dawned overcast, and potentially looked like my week of prayers would go unanswered.

As we got closer to people arriving it began to brighten up and became a perfect day for our 1st “Le Trec Style Day”!!

         The venue has plenty of parking and riders were shown around and made welcome by Malcolm & Ann the owners of the venue.

         Registration was a busy time, taking details, ensuring riders had safety equipment + Hi-Viz for those orienteering. Maps were handed out and the 1st riders were out on the course at 09:50. The route was a mixture of farm tracks, woodland, bridleway, lanes with only a small amount of roadwork and most riders completed the course in around 2 hours and everyone returned home safely.

         For those that did not want to orienteer there was an on-site Treasure Hunt where they rode a course and upon completion they filled in a questionnaire on what they noticed along the way or not in some cases!! The winner  & most observant was Alison King on Blue. Well Done!

         The BBQ was next which was skilfully manned or womanned  by Ann & her daughter Heidi who kept up a steady flow of burgers + sausages for the riders & spectators which were all gratefully received & polished off. Hot and cold drinks flowed all day on a self service basis along with biscuits & cake.

        

         One re-fuelled riders then had 2 more tasks, A Times Section consisting of Walk—Trot—Canter/Lope phases in specific areas. Breaks of gait incurred a 5 second time penalty. I had set an optimum time and the task was for riders to get as close as possible to it. The eventual winner was Christine Schofield on Chloe who amazingly was 1 second shy of the optimum time at 8m56s so congratulations Christine.

        

         The riders next challenge was a Trail course with 2 options Novice & Advanced.

Many Riders had never seen a Trail course but all produced very good attempts at all the obstacles and many were very surprised at their horses ability to adapt to this new challenge.

         In the Novice Class we had a 3-Way tie for 1st. With Barry Batra, Yrja Matthiasson on Icelandic’s Brysar & Sendill along with Jackie Mersa on Mouse an attractive paint.

         The Advanced Class was won by Vikki Logan on Dry, 2nd was Alison King on Blue, & 3rd Christine Schofield on Chloe. Well done Ladies.

        

We had a great mix of new western, WES and English riders along with varied breeds eg. Fyord & Icelandic to name a couple. Along with all ages & abilities which added to the camaraderie  that was apparent as the more experienced encouraged the novice riders to have a go.

 

It Was a fabulous day & great fun due to the hard work that was put in by many volenteers , though my family may dispute the word volunteer!

A special thanks has to go to Charlie, Heidi’s son who was a fantastic go-for and very good at putting the Trail course back together for us.

         All the feedback was positive and mainly asked the question ,

“When are you running the next one”

         So watch this space!!