‘Quirky' mare noses ahead

Charlotte White and her 21-year-old partner of 10 years Sienna II are victorious in the individual 100 class, while Crown RC clinch the team honours

- EMILY BEVAN

CHARLOTTE WHITE confessed to being “completely shocked” to win the individual 100 class aboard her 21-year-old Irish mare Sienna II at the BRC Arena Eventing Championships. These championships were the last BRC event to take place before the first lockdown ensued in March 2020 and were the first of their flagship competitions to return.

“I had to double-check the results as I couldn’t believe we’d won,” said the Abinger Forest RC member. “We’ve been together for 10 years and we’ve often done well but we’ve never quite won. She’s a quirky mare and has certainly tested the waters over the years but she has a heart of gold and I’m so pleased.”

The competition required horses and riders to negotiate a series of showjumping fences before immediately tackling a course of cross-country obstacles which included logs, ditches and a water jump. The final “joker” fence was a showjump set up to 10cm higher than the rest of the course and incurred six penalties if dislodged.

Charlotte and Sienna were one of two combinations to complete this class without jumping or time-faults, and took victory by the narrowest of margins after finishing 0.4 of a second closer to the optimum time than runners-up Imogen Sheldrake and Glenvilla Belle (Area 14).

Team honours were awarded to Crown RC, their second victory in this class in three years. Lauren Shelley (Cardinar Surprise), 10th individually, and her sister Morgan (Cavandjo’s Silver Fox) were members of the victorious 2019 quartet, as was Zoe Young, although this time she rode Westfields Galaxy. Izzi Heathcote was a new addition to the team with Master Herbert.