Qualifying For Hickstead

Sywell Horse Show

Sywell show is a local show to me, it is run once a year and takes me about 20 minutes to hack over. Me and Gigi have been to this show three years running and have tried a variety of classes. We mostly do show jumping however we have tried some showing classes in the past. I don't show Gigi very often due to her rubbed patch of hair. The show jumping at Sywell is often challenging and the course is designed by one of my favourite course designers. The show is also run on grass, I normally attend shows with arenas due to having a lot of amazing equestrian centers locally. This year Sywell show was a qualifier for the Sunshine Tour held at Hickstead. 

80cm

80cm

80cm

90cm

90cm

90cm Jump Off

90cm Jump Off 

The Sunshine Tour

The sunshine tour is one of the biggest unaffiliated championships in the UK. It runs for 3 days and offers Dressage, Showing, Show Jumping and open classes. There is also the option to keep your horse overnight at the venue. The show is running at Hickstead this year which is an amazing venue! To qualify for the Sunshine Tour you must have attended one of the qualifying shows, these were listed on the official website. You also had to place in order to receive a form, this contains your code for qualifying. You then had to register on the official website to secure your place, then it's just a matter of turning up!

Gigi Qualified

Gigi qualified for the Sunshine Tour whilst we were at Sywell show. We came 4th in the 90cm show jumping class. We did also enter into the 80cm however took an unlucky pole in the double, it was chiucking it down with rain so the grass was very slippery after a few people had been round, this meant on landing from the first element Gigi took her stride then her back legs slipped underneath her as she went to take off, causing us to take off almost touching the jump already instead of where we should have. I'm blessed that Gigi still went for it without refusing, however we did have no choice but to roll the top pole off. We didn't slip in the 90cm which meant we jumped a perfect double clear, despite my glasses falling off as my face was so wet. I had to hold my glasses between my teeth and just let Gigi take the lead, she finished the course foot perfect! I wanted to do the 1m class however I decided it was too wet and not worth the risk. We came 4th overall in the 90cm class, I took the jump off nice and steady as I did not want Gigi to slip or become injured just for a ribbon. 

Are We Going To Hickstead?

No, In short I have decided Hickstead is too far away to travel Gigi as the longest I have travelled her is 1h30, The trip to HIckstead would be 4 hours each way. I also would not be able to stable her over night as I cannot get the time off of work. This means we cannot attend the championship. Despite this I am over the moon we have qualified for something so big! I have booked Gigi into our first one day event on the same day as our Hickstead class, so although I cannot attend the Sunshine Tour I can try my first ODE!