Event Reports

Report kindly provided by Andrea Tyrrell

Thank you to everyone for making me welcome at my first ever Trec competition, I arrived on Saturday afternoon with my Dales pony Connie and soon had her corralled, then had lots of help during the PTV course walk from TD Claire, Caroline and others, then back at the corralling field I found I was soon taken into the fold and made to feel part of the Trec family. A lovely communal meal of pizza and cake followed. My partner Jane and her pony Ebony, who we had met at a training session a few weeks earlier, arrived on Sunday morning, it was her first time too, so it was the blind leading the blind. Our map reading was not the best and we went wrong several times and missed 2 tickets on the POR but we had a lovely ride and made it back in one piece. Connie tackled the PTV calmly and gave it her best, giving us a respectable score, despite a few rooky errors from me, what a lovely course.

Thank you to the ladies who lent me various bits of kit, especially Sue who kindly lent me her body protector enabling me to do the PTV when I discovered mine was out of date, I actually had several offers. I have never met a more friendly, helpful and welcoming bunch of people anywhere, making the weekend really enjoyable, if tiring, can’t wait for the next one now.

Set in a perfect spot by the church, with the camper van on stand-by for endless cups of tea, four of us were ready for the influx of keen treccies as they arrived at the checkpoint…for us, it was a busy time because all the classes had to come through where we were. Luckily, the weather held off and time flew by as they all trundled through. We had some interested members of the public as some questions about what we were up to, and a couple seemed surprised by it all.

Once we were back at the venue, it was time to chill before having a walk around Sunday’s PTV course and then an excellent meal which was followed by some first class fun with karaoke! Would have been fun to go on all night but we all had to be up in the morning ready for the PTV.

Being on the low branches was a lot of fun. We got a great view of much of the course, and with the low branch obstacle, an element of keep fit was involved with the hiring and lowering of the branches.

Lunch was again provided for the judges and with everything running smoothly and to time, the competition drew to a close with presentations following later. With our own beasties to tend to, we couldn’t stay for the presentation, but we got a great insight into how a big event was run and how the judging was dealt with.

Next time, the aim is to ride it!

Donna and Pete.

What a weekend – poor Koen (I’ll not say poor Harvey) was
tested to the limit at the Trec Lincolnshire weekend. People and horses came
from all over the country and then there were Pam Fromm and me. Saturday was
orienteering day – local knowledge was a big help so the compass wasn’t needed
(not that either of us know how to use one) and we were told to be aware that
we would be going through a field full of cows! Harvey and Koen were up to
speed in the first mile – going past the piggery no problem then came the
carrot field!! The farmer had kindly turned off the irrigation. Only thing was
we had to get the horses over the pipeline. Harvey watched Koen with morbid
fascination as I tried to get him over the pipeline and I swear if Harvey had
had a nail file he’d have filed his hooves watching Koen hyper ventilating. We
finally got over the pipeline followed by Harvey who just stepped over it and
walked passed Koen and then did an emergency stop because there was water in
the ruts and he couldn’t possibly go through it! He waited patiently for Koen
to lead him through it who by this time was on the verge of a meltdown – he
doesn’t do water but overcame his fear and did it. If there was ever a time I
wanted to shoot a horse (Harvey just to clarify) that was it!! We then had to
go up a very steep hill – Koen set off trotting, I think in the hope Harvey
would have a cardiac arrest. Harvey wasn’t bothered he was the one with his fly
sheet on. Every insect in Christendom descended on Koen – being black doesn’t
help and neither did the heat. When we finally got to the top the views were
breathtaking – the next worry was “where was this field with the
cows?”. All I can say is that Pam and I are now experts in cow pats – old
and new!!! Imagine our relief when we encountered no cows. Pam made up for the
shortcomings of Harvey – literally speaking. As Harvey is somewhat shorter than
Koen and so closer to the ground any difficult gates Pam dismounted and got us
through and then was able to find somewhere to get back on. Pam obviously got
bored getting on and off Harvey and found a novel way of dismounting. I’ve
never seen anyone dismount sliding down the horse’s neck. Unfortunately after
this new approach to dismounting she couldn’t find anywhere to remount and so
we finished the course with Pam on foot followed by her faithless steed and, of
course, St Koen and me.

Day 2 at Lincolnshire Trec weekend – surprisingly after our
exploits on Saturday we were 3rd going into the obstacle course. Really pleased
with Koen who was only really let down by me and my inexperience at some of the
obstacles in that you have to remain in the same gait not do a mixture though
we did have a hairy moment at the water. I thought Koen was actually going
through it but as soon as he dipped his foot in the water he launched himself
up the bank like an Exocet missile – all I could hear was the gasps from the
judges! Harvey redeemed himself so is off the hit list. We dropped from 3rd to
5th but at least we got a rosette and survived.

Report kindly provided by Ruth Gregory