Combined
St Meubreds & Jigsaw
Puzzle Ride
South
West endurance riders were out in force for the
first two competitive rides of the season. Both
the Jigsaw Puzzle Ride and Blue Chip St Meubred’s
were full before the closing dates for entries.
The popular Jigsaw Puzzle Ride is not only the
oldest endurance ride in Cornwall, it first took
place in the 1970s, but is always the first competitive
ride of the season.
“The day before the ride was dreadfully
wet,” said Ride Organiser, Charlene Derbyshire. “As
it turned out, the sun shone all day, we had over
100 competitors and pleasure riders, and everyone
enjoyed themselves.”
Among the competitors were Jo Claridge and her
husband, Peter, competing together for the first
time in eight years. A very busy person, Jo is
both the Vice Chairman of Endurance GB and Rides
Co-ordinator for the South West.
Jo Claridge, Vice Chairman of EGB and husband Peter
at the Jigsaw Puzzle ride.
Photo by Martin Broadfoot
A
couple of weeks after Jigsaw, she was hard at
work again, as organiser of the Blue Chip St Meubred’s
Ride at Cardinham.
Competitors and pleasure riders enjoyed a route
that used quiet lanes, bridleways and the beautiful
winding tracks in Cardinham and Laneskin woods.
The most popular part of the ride and the fastest,
is the glorious canter across the grassland of
Cardinham Downs on the way back to the venue.
Several
steep uphill pulls make St Meubred’s
quite a tough ride but despite this all the competitors
in the 80 km (50 mile) class finished successfully
and their horses passed the compulsory veterinary
inspection. Nicky Routledge and her Arab Ca Shia
Merisha won the award for the lowest heart rate.
Thanks
to the generous sponsorship of Blue Chip, there
were prizes in all the competitive classes.
In Class 2 (65 km) Philippa Davidson’s Master
Flash had the lowest pulse, in Class 3 (50 km)
it was Ingrid Smith’s Kotecska, in Class
4 (50 km Novice) it was Judy White’s Aurontes,
and in Class 5 (32 km) Nick Sherry’s Shimmering
Blue Jasmine.
In
Class 6 (32 km Novice) Victoria Petit and Mirage
Jazzy not only had the lowest pulse, they also
picked up the Farrier’s Award for the Best
Shod Horse for their farrier, Nick Lee of Totnes.
The
Junior Rider’s prize went to Sarah Arthur
on Ashan. The Best Young Rider was Shannon Smith
on her pony, Bomber. The Youngest Rider was Vikki
Rawcliffe on Coconut Crazy and the best Veteran
Horse award was a tie between Paula Steer’s
Emily and Jan James’ Steel Tobias, both aged
19 years.
The Best Veteran in the Pleasure Ride class (32
km) was Sydney (aged 22) ridden by Ann Gresham.
