Rider Story
My journey to Badminton
Warwickshire based Chloe Cashmore tells us more about qualifying for the Mitsubishi Motors Cup at this year's Badminton Horse Trials and what she's expecting to achieve at the event.
qualified human and veterinary chiropractor, treating animals in the local area. I have always grown up around horses, but only began eventing three years ago after switching from showing. My time is hugely taken up by both work and the horses, but I also enjoy general fitness and gym-based work as I have a keen interest in sports rehabilitation.
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My horse is Galwaybay Lucky, or Louis as we know him at home. He is a nine year old Irish Sport horse x Dutch Warmblood standing at 16.3hh. Louis’ sire is Luidam, and his dam sire is Renville, so he has dressage and show jumping lines. He is a gentle giant and an absolute pleasure to be around, so I am always very grateful to have him. He can be a bit unsure of being tied up, so I generally avoid this now. Instead he stands alone really quietly on the yard and then just follows me wherever I go. He is completely horizontal.
We bought Louis from Helena Thomas, a dealer based in Dorset, after my previous horse had to be retired. Helena was
y name is Chloe Cashmore. I am 23 years old, and am a fully
recommended to us by a friend who had previously backed one of her old horses. We fell in love with him from the videos and photos we were sent, and were willing to travel wherever to view him. Coincidentally, he was based at a livery yard just a stone’s throw away from the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic, the university I was studying at at the time. At this point I was in my first year (out of four) so for the rest of university, I kept him in Dorset while studying a degree with a very busy lecture schedule and training on a daily basis.
Eventing is my main discipline. I love the variety that the sport provides, but also the friendly and supportive atmosphere at the competitions. Typically, I get up at either 5am or 6am dependent on the training I am doing that morning. I like to try to keep myself as fit as possible, and this really helps with my riding too, so on my working days I try to go running in the morning. I then work from 8am to 7.30pm in the clinic treating all of my patients. I ride Louis after work at 8pm, and generally get home for dinner just after 10pm. On my days off work, I treat horses in the local area, go
Bicton Arena International cross-country
to the gym and take Louis for his lessons. I love to keep busy, so I tend to just run around from one thing to another on a tight time schedule!
Last year my sister Phoebe competed in the 90cm championship at Badminton. It was great to support her and see the competition behind the scenes if you like, so I know partly what to expect this year. We picked up our regional finals qualifier after winning our section at Bicton Arena, Dorset in 2017 and then qualified for the Mitsubishi Motors Cup at Weston Park in October. I work at Horse of the Year Show in the presentation team which was the same week as Weston Park, so we had a lesson on the Monday, and then I didn't see Louis again until I escaped duties on the Saturday to compete. In early February, Louis was based up in Cheshire with Andrew Heffernan and Harry Moran, as I was finishing my finals at university and needed to put all my time and energy into that. Weston Park was the only competition I did last year, so I really owe my success to Andy and Harry (who rode Louis from June to October) who both did a fantastic job with him.
Bicton Arena International showjumping 26 ALL HORSE MARCH 2019 | For advertising telephone 01380 734373
We have been having regular dressage lessons with Val Smyth, and jumping lessons with Caroline Moore who have both made a huge difference to our partnership. I use local gallops to improve his fitness and am planning on starting some show jumping classes to get a bit of extra practice in. I have experienced first-hand the difference that regular chiropractic maintenance care has on the performance of both people and horses, so I treat Louis on a monthly basis, and I am treated by my colleagues on
a regular basis to keep us both balanced and relaxed. Getting to Badminton is something I have wanted to do for many years, so I am hugely appreciative to have this opportunity and am looking forward to simply enjoying the atmosphere and competition. I am also excited to see what Louis makes of the cross country as he is normally very confident and covers a lot of ground. I am most apprehensive of the show jumping, as it is such an influential phase anyway, and at Badminton there is a more of an atmosphere around the arena.
My biggest supporters are without a doubt my parents, as they drive both Louis and I all over the country to take us competing and training. While I was at university, they would drive four hours from north Birmingham to west Dorset to take us out eventing at the weekends. We were also very lucky to have wonderful friends at our old stables in Dorset, who were so supportive of Louis and I while we were competing, and they always kept a watchful eye on him and were on hand for hugs (for both Louis and I).
My goals for Badminton are both to finish and to also get my lowest dressage score yet, as we have worked a lot on this over the winter. After Badminton, we are aiming to move up to novice and hopefully enjoy the rest of the 2019 season at this level.
Thank you in advance to all of the officials who organise and run Badminton, and allow us to enjoy the competition. After working at HOYS, I fully appreciate all of the hard work that goes into these competitions behind the scenes, both over that week, and also the year prior.
© Jays Photos
© Jays Photos
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