Our first event of 2021 was held at Thornton House Farm by kind permission of the Dexter family. This fabulous venue is easily accessible from the A1079 and we were delighted that we were welcomed back after many previous TREC competitions and camps which have been held here.
2021 saw a new organiser for this winter series event, Marie Spillane who has been competing in TREC for a number of years and is fortunate to live only a few miles from the venue.
We were very grateful to the owners in allowing us to set up on the Saturday evening once a full day of dressage competition had been completed. Huge thank you to everyone who helped to set up: Sam Askew; Lucy; Lizzie & Isla Murdoch; Anne & Bill Bradley; Marie, Dave & Alana Spillane. Special mention to Sam as she had been helping to run the dressage all day and still found time to help us.
The competition started at 9.30am and we had a fabulous team of helpers throughout the day. We are very grateful for their help judging and stewarding which enabled the day to run very smoothly and mostly to time! TREC competitions cannot run without the support of our helpers who are prepared to give up their time to help.
In the morning we had Sam Askew as warm up steward, Duncan North and Kirsty Collinson judging PTV, Anne Bradley judging MA, Lizzie Murdoch on the exit gate and judging MA, Isla Murdoch timing and arena party. In order for the same judges to be used for each competitor with the split times, the novice TYOL was judged by Marie Spillane and Lizzie Murdoch and the lead rein/in hand was judged by Lizzie Murdoch and Anne Bradley. In the afternoon we had Linda Gibson as warm up steward, Tina Negri and Joy Bradley judging the PTV, Liz Crowther judging MA, Jane Chivers on the exit gate and judging MA. We also had Bill Bradley as car park steward all day to assist in view of parking being limited. Dave and Alana Spillane made sure our helpers were kept happy with water and snacks!
Thankfully, we were blessed with good weather having made the decision to continue to run everything outdoors when we could have switched back to indoors after a last minute rule change regarding use of indoor schools. We felt that this was the safest environment for judges and riders given the current situation with COVID-19. The dry weather meant we could do the MA/control of paces on grass, helping prepare competitors for the summer season and giving us more room in the arena for lots of different obstacles. We managed to incorporate some of the local temporary obstacles – ridden L, teardrop, L shaped reinback, sidepass and turnabout box.
We have already received lots of praise from competitors for this event and it was fantastic to see so many young competitors enjoying their rounds (and showing the rest of us how it should be done!).
We finished the day slightly ahead of the scheduled time and with lots of helpers, the trailer was packed up by 4.30pm!
Please find the results below
Thornton Results
