Wow… where do I even begin?
Last month I wrote that I was anxiously waiting to hear whether Basil and I had been selected to represent Great Britain at the inaugural U25 World Championships in Millstreet, Ireland. Well, we made it!
All images: Jess Rimmer
I feel like we have a huge amount to debrief because it really was one of those weeks I’ll remember forever. After working towards the dream of wearing those Union Jacks for so many years, I can honestly say it lived up to every expectation – and more.
Judging by the excitement in my voice, you’re probably expecting me to tell you we stormed home with individual gold and an U25 World Championship title. And … this is where you’re wrong.
Performance-wise, it was actually one of my weaker competitions with Basil (apart from when we went swimming in the Aston water jump last year… ).
But strangely, I think that’s exactly what made the week so special.
Although things didn’t quite end as we’d hoped, the camaraderie and team spirit within the GB camp meant the smile never left my face. I celebrated my team mates’ successes as though they were my own and, most importantly, Basil came home fit, healthy and happy. That’s what matters most.
We’ve returned with invaluable experience, plenty to learn from and every reason to believe we’ll come back even stronger.
Our final trial was held at Farley, right at the end of June, and then the wait for the selectors’ decision felt endless. If I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting much – the strength and depth of British Eventing is phenomenal, and I was just grateful to have been in contention.
So when the phone call came on Wednesday afternoon, there was quite a lot of squealing, followed by some tears, some hugs … and then probably a bit more squealing! It felt completely surreal that trusty old Basil and I were actually going to be representing our country. Whatttttt?!
It’s a moment I’ll never forget, and one that says so much about both Basil and our incredible support team here at the Fox-Pitt’s, as well as the Portman Ladies Syndicate who have never stopped believing in us.
Although the preparation time was short, thanks to Jackie’s meticulous planning, William’s invaluable advice and a brilliant final training camp at Wellington, we travelled to Ireland feeling as organised and as ready as we could possibly be.
We arrived at Millstreet on Tuesday afternoon, and the atmosphere was just magical. The British horseboxes were all parked together, decorated with what was probably an obscene number of Union Jacks, so we certainly weren’t difficult to spot! After dressing up smart for Wednesday’s trot-up, we made it our mission to be the brightest, loudest nation at the opening parade. I think it’s fair to say we achieved that, although Germany’s Calvin Böckmann chant certainly gave us a run for our money!
Brand new colours
Thursday was dressage day, and Basil and I had a brilliant training session with our team coach, Tina, on the morning of our test. It’s easy to arrive at a championship, panic, and suddenly want to change everything, but at that stage there’s very little to re-invent – it’s about refining what’s already there, and making the good bits even better. Thanks to Tina’s expertise and William’s reassuring words ringing around my head, that’s exactly what we managed to do – Basil produced a season-best score of 36.
It wasn’t enough to trouble the leaders, but I couldn’t have been happier. From the moment we turned down the centre line, he felt completely with me, and I’m fairly sure I was grinning throughout.
‘It was beautifully built, and full of challenging questions’
The next day and a half was spent cheering on the rest of Team GB while walking and analysing every inch of a seriously beefy four-star cross-country course. It was beautifully built, full of challenging questions, but there wasn’t anything out there I didn’t believe Basil was capable of tackling.
Saturday morning arrived surprisingly quickly. Before I knew it, I was pulling on my brand-new red and white cross-country colours (don’t worry – I dropped every single new item of clothing on the floor before wearing it … Superstition and all that) and heading out onto the course.
Oddly, I felt calm.
We had a plan, and I knew Basil would look after me. And he did. It wasn’t our smoothest round, and sadly it wasn’t clear, but he brought me home safely from our championship debut, which is always the most important thing. Of course I was disappointed not to produce the cross-country round I know we’re capable of, especially as it’s usually our strongest phase, but I quickly parked those feelings and focused on cheering the rest of the British team home as they moved up into team gold. That’s eventing! There are incredible highs and frustrating lows, but they’re all much easier to navigate when you’re surrounded by such an uplifting group of people.
Total pathfinders
Sunday’s showjumping presented another proper challenge. Although we weren’t in a competitive place any more, there was still a substantial track to jump, and we needed to have our wits about us.
We developed a bit of a running joke within the squad: at a long-format event, the showjumping runs in reverse order (last place jumps first). So being first to go generally isn’t something you aspire to! Rather than feeling sorry for myself, though, I decided to embrace it, and we proudly claimed the title of being the first combination ever to showjump at the first-ever U25 World Championships.
Looked at like that, we were literal Pathfinders – ha! It was a slightly ridiculous way of looking at it, but it definitely made me hold my head a little higher as I rode into the arena. Whatever works, I guess!
Basil rose to the challenge and jumped a brilliant round, just picking up an early rail which was completely my fault.
I left the arena wearing exactly the same grin I’d had at the beginning of the week. I just felt so lucky to be there, surrounded by so many incredible people and so much support. We learned a huge amount, made memories to last a lifetime, and now I’m just feeling even more determined.
It’s time to regroup, reflect and learn, so that we can come out next year even stronger and ready to fight for a spot on next year’s squad.
Come on Basil!
