Oxford canter to victory
THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY Equestrian team, consisting of Laura Hillier (captain), Hannah Brown, Emma Taylor and Sam Brodie, won their BUSA regional finals last week to qualify for the national finals.
The league consists of 4 matches, hosted by each of the participating universities (Reading, Oxford, Oxford Brookes and Bucks College). The horses at each match are provided by the host institution, so that riders from each team have to ride unknown horses.
Each rider is given just 7 minutes to get to know their horse before performing a dressage test. One rider from each team rides the same horse and the scores are compared, thus the competition is entirely a test of the rider's ability, not the ability of the horse.
The process is repeated for a show jumping phase with different horses, and each rider is allowed just a few minutes and 4 practice fences before jumping a course of fences approximately 3'0 in height.
All of the league matches were extremely close, with Reading proving tough competition on each occasion.
Overall Oxford won by just one point to qualify for the regionals. Throughout the league Hannah and Sam were hugely successful individually, managing between them to win 3 of the 4 individual firsts and 3 individual seconds, making them the most successful individual riders in the league.
The regional finals were held in Gloucestershire, and the format was similar to that for the league matches. The team competed against Aberystwyth and Bristol, as well as individual competitors from Reading, Swansea and Lampeter.
At the end of the dressage phase Oxford were ahead by 10 penalties, but 3 clear rounds in the show jumping were needed in order to secure victory.
This proved an easy task and Oxford finished the day with a comfortable lead. Oxford were also very successful individually, with Hannah being placed 2nd overall, Sam 3rd and Emma 4th.
The date of the nationals is, as yet, unconfirmed. The competition is of a much higher standard, lasting for several days with only 4 riders competing on the final day.
Not content with letting the first team steal the limelight, the second team has also been highly successful. Having won all their league matches convincingly they also claimed victory at their regional finals.
The second team consists of Lara Williams, Anna Drake, Jodie Seddon and Laura Wilks, with Catriona Given riding as reserve for the regionals.
1st Jun 2001