The 42nd Blog in the series takes a slightly different route to normal with a slightly different event to focus on.. The BE Board elections .. Voting is already underway...
The World Championship success for Britain has put the cap on an excellent season overall , and the season has also ended for NBR and we are already looking forward to the publishing of the 2011 calendar, with some winter showjumping and dressage to fill the intervening period (at least till snow gets in the way). As 2010 proved one does need to have a degree of flexibility as one can never rely entirely on the horses being totally accommodating. We also have the EHOA Dinner to look forward to in early November, always an excellent occasion, this time with a change of venue.
But before we look ahead a final event has appeared on the agenda, namely the BE Directors Elections where I have put myself forward as one of nine candidates for three places.
Richard Pack’s excellent photograph of myself with Arctic Soul is part of the launching of the campaign and it shows how far one has come in a four year period, that a picture such as that was able to be taken. While NBR has the motto Semper Porro “always onwards”, the Kerr family motto is Sero Sed Serio, “late but in earnest” which couldn’t be a better description of my time in eventing. Now seems an excellent opportunity to take my involvement further after the first four years familiarization, when the learning curve has been steep.
Having a candidate for the board with a fresh approach, a fresh view, and almost certainly a unique experience in Eventing must surely be something to consider, with an entirely different commercial exposure, honed over 25 years.
The good thing is that the membership does have the choice with a good range of candidates putting themselves forward. It is an exciting time to be involved with the sport, with a huge opportunity created by the Olympics for the sport to be in the public eye. There are obviously issues such as the Articles of Association, Rule Changes, Prize Money, Points, Qualifications, Safety, and so one could go on. Enfranchisement and encouraging members to feel they have a say (enough to vote), is very important and certainly my experiences with the Blog over the last three years certainly show my intentions in that regard. (communication of such a type is also part of my day to day work)
So as other blogs spring up for the campaign itself this one keeps going … and I have been encouraged so far by the good response at this early stage to my candidacy.
The previous blog was from Gatcombe where Arctic Soul closed his campaign and the final competition for NBR was at Osberton where Inishmhor and Cherry Law competed creditably in less than perfect conditions weatherwise but came back safe and sound.
The competitive year closed with The NBR Point Total having reached 116, the first time through 100 points for some time, and also a first Advanced and 3* for sic years. We hope for many more in 2011. There were also 65 Foundation points collected throughout the season and it will be interesting to see how that evolves.
There were 61 entries altogether with wins for Wattsburn, Arctic Soul, Stonedge, Inishmhor and Trig Point (and Emily Galbraith also rode Freddy Curtis three times).
Points contributions came from;
Trig Point – 49 points, Stonedge 33 points (8 events in a row), Cherry Law 23, Fiddlewood 6 Arctic Soul 3, Rare Hero 2,
And the Foundation points;
Arctic Soul 31, Wattsburn 24, Inishmhor 8, stonedge 2
The Blog found its way to eleven events this year with two short breaks in the summer getting in the way of seeing no fewer than three events.
Minor niggles also meant that we had paid the entry fees to Tattersalls, and the Festival at Gatcombe but were unable to compete. Very frustrating.
NBR obviously went to more..
We did criss-cross the country and went to Burnham Market, Belton, Scone, Auchinleck ( a new one), Floors, Hexham, Aston le walls (new), Scone, Blair, Blenheim (new) and Gatcombe.
As ever some lovely places to stay, great competition, and the thee new courses that I visited all had good plus points. It was good to see The owners tent at Belton (though the blog reveals that wasn’t the best of compeitions for us.). The win in the CIC2* at Scone was a well deserved one for Trig point and the success there was probably the competitive highlight of the year. My first visit to Blenheim was really enjoyable and was another step up as Trig Point moves through the grades. Fidelity seems to have a great time as new sponsors and I look forward to having the opportunity to return in years to come, horses permitting..
Pictured below are Trig Point at Blenheim and Arctic Soul at Aston.. two excellent cross country rounds and lets hope we can see more of the same in 2011.
Freddy Curtis was sold late in the year and has headed down to a younger rider in Hertfordshire. He is a great character and we look forward to seeing his progress in 2011.
In 2011 in addition to Trig Point and Arctic Soul, we hope that Mistral will be able to return to competition. His recuperation continues and he has been given the go ahead for flat work and will be involved in the winter showjumping season.
Other movements in the yard. Fiddlewood has gone back to owner Mary Grant, and Indian Mill was sold to Paul Tapners yard, and had already been on the podium twice.
Prospects look encouraging for those that remain, with a good balance of age and experience.
An increasing number of other riders have also started to feature in the blog, and indication perhaps of broadening interest in the sport as a whole, and one can that that can only go one way in 2011.
It was also good to be involved with Eventer’s fund raising, with the MS Evening with Nicky Roncoroni, Emily Galbraith and Sarra mayberry being put through their paces by Les Smith. The Mid Surrey Hunt is also trying to riase a large amount of money to purchase some land , and fellow owner Harry Philips (Wattsburn) tasked Nicky and I to get some eventers to sign a numnah, as they already had a couple of racing ones..
This was a great challenge and the Eventers participating at Little Gatcombe have come up trumps. When you see the names and realize that these were present at competing at one event it perhaps gives another indication of what a tremendous sport this is. The numnah will be auctioned on November 12th and we wait with baited breath.
The autographers…
The eventers to have signed the numnah …
Lucinda Green , Mark Todd, Andrew Hoy , Clayton Fredricks, Pippa Funnell, Ruth Edge, Lucy Wiegersma, Sarah Cohen , Zara Phillips, and Nicky Roncoroni.
That group won (representing different countries )
Olympics –2 individual gold, 3 team gold, 1 individual silver , 4 team silver , 2 individual bronze, 1 team bronze
World Championships –4 team Golds, 2 individual gold, two team bronzes.
European championships.. 6 individual gold, 7 team gold, 1 individual silver, 1 team silver , 1 bronze ,
Also Young Riders European medals : I Team Gold, 1 Individual Silver, One Team Silver and 1 individual bronze..
That is in addition to the top events listed above.
Badminton 13 times, Burghley 7 time , Kentucky 3 Times, Aachen Once, and Luhmuhlen once (also once as a 3 star) .
