A summer catch-up with our sponsored riders
With the 2024 competition season racing by, our sponsored riders have been in action eventing, show jumping and in the dressage arena. As is so often the case with any sport involving horses, there have been injuries and challenges and triumphs, so it’s high time we caught up with them and shared their news! Let’s get started…
Sara Bowe
Sara had a less-than-ideal start to the season picking up an injury to her MCL whilst training in early March. That meant that she was on the sidelines for the start of the season which is always frustrating when you’ve worked so hard to train and prepare - especially in the wet, cold and windy weather we had last winter! Thankfully, Sara healed well and was back in action at Frenchfield in mid-May and was on target to compete again at Belsay before the cancellation (due to the weather, of course!).
Sara also had some sad news in May when her former top ride Seaworthy suffered what turned out to be a career-ending injury while being prepared for the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championships with Olivia Ross. We know Sara was gutted, but ‘Worthy’ will enjoy a very spoilt retirement! Plus, Sara’s got an exciting string of talented horses to look forward to competing this season and beyond… She’s back in action at the Alnwick Ford International this week with Concorado, Rinwood MJ and MHS Global Cooley, so we’ll make sure to keep you updated with how she gets on - keep an eye on our social media.
Holly Richardson
Our second sponsored event rider Holly Richardson was in full Badminton Horse Trials prep mode as the season began. It was her first time at Badminton, and we were all excited to see how she got on after her 5* debut at Burghley last year with her top horse Bally Louis. This talented duo truly rose to the occasion and were pinging around the cross-country course, so we were so gutted when they were pulled up after a technical elimination. We know Holly was frustrated and very sad, but we know they will go on to achieve great things together.
Of course, Holly has lots of other exciting horses coming up through the ranks! One is Team Chapman Equestrian’s Madame Revolution TCE, and Holly took her out to brush up her show jumping in Foxhunter classes before she steps up to Intermediate in a few weeks’ time. This cracking mare took second place in a competitive novice section at Little Downham recently and is entered in the seven-year-old young horse class at Alnwick Ford this week, so we’ll be watching her progress closely.
Mel Chapman
The season is flying by for our sponsored dressage rider Mel Chapman, not least because she’s packing it full of competitions alongside her busy diary of lessons and clinics. Mel was out competing on four days out of eight in May, and as ever we’re in awe of her energy! She has an exciting stable full of youngsters to bring on as well as her advanced horses, so we’ve seen her in action at Manor Grange, Northallerton and the Somerford Park Premier League. A quick glance at her British Dressage page reveals a lot of first and second places, and we know that Mel is over the moon to have been selected with Romeo for their first international at Hartpury CDI in July!
Mel was also thrilled to be invited back to Bramham International Horse Trials earlier this month to put on her dressage display for spectators. She employed the help of Holly Richardson to partner Kingy and Romeo to show visitors a dressage to music test followed by three training exercises they could use to up level their schooling and competition riding at home. It went down a storm and you couldn’t wipe the smile off Mel’s face afterwards.