Finn Valley Riding Club 

These were held the weekend of the 4-6th August at Swalcliffe Park in Oxfordshire. 

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We had one Junior Individual Shannon Curtis doing the 80c, Junior 100 team Milly Butters, Dulcie Wade, Jasmine Slater and Francesca Aitchison and James doing the 100+. We all travelled to Swalcliffe on the Thursday arriving late afternoon,  sadly Milly and her mum broke down on the A14 so they didn’t arrive till early Friday morning.

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Horses checked in and stabled then we set up camp, weather was kind to us although a little windy but managed to get gazebo up without too much trouble. Friday was the start of the competition with Shannon doing her dressage which was a lovely test, followed by show jumping where she picked up 4f. Later she went cross country where she did a lovely clear round.  She was a very happy when she found out she had come 5th. Well done Shannon! 

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Early Friday the 100 team did their horse inspection where they all passed, followed by their dressage, all were pleased with their tests. James then did his horse inspection but his dressage was not till late in the afternoon scoring 38 penalties. That was the first day over they all then had to walk the course and the roads and tracks. Dinner was then served after the riders had been to the briefing, with a few drinks consumed by the supporters.

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Saturday started with the 100 team doing their roads and tracks followed by the cross country, Milly and Francesca did lovely clear rounds, Jasmine unfortunately had a few problems and incurred 60 penalties while Dulcie did a lovely round only to find out at the end she had gone the wrong side of the flag on the first water and therefore was eliminated, such a shame and she was so disappointed because she was not allowed to do the show jumping phase on Sunday.

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Later in the day it was the time for James to start his roads and tracks then onto the cross country, it was a big course with a few difficult combinations near to the end of the track but he went storming around the course and did a lovely clear round. End of another good day for Finn Valley.

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Sunday was a very early start for the 100 team with their vet inspections all going well and then onto the show jumping where they all went clear which put the team into 6th position, with Milly coming 3rd individually in section and 8th overall.

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Next up was James, vet inspection all ok then we had to wait a while before his show jumping. When he entered the ring all went well to start but then a few poles rolled and he had 12 faults at the end which was a little disappointing for both but James thought it was a combination of him making mistakes and Jack feeling a little tired. At the end he came 11th so a great result.

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It was a great set of results, most of all lots of fun and experience gained. All riders and horses got back to Suffolk safely.

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