COMPETING ONLINE
IT’S ALL HAPPENING ONLINE! By Jo Monck
E-ridersTeam, Foxy Fillies: Samantha Core,Sarah Blake, Lorraine Dearnley,SandraPower, Jo Monck and Amanda Barton
to agrinding halt; this being in all areas, including the horse world. With most events cancelled, it has been aleanyear forgetting out thereand competing, or even getting out to have alesson. All is not losthowever,online is adifferent
matterentirely.There has been a boom in people competing virtually and competing with others all overthe world. The pandemic in some ways has opened awindowofopportunity to trysomething that youwouldn’tdo normally with your horse.Without the pressureofanaudienceand the hassle of travel, online competing is nowgiving horse riders an outlet forall the training and hardwork that has been put into the 2020 season that neverwas. Justbeforethe last lockdown fivefriends
D
and myselfformed an online dressage team with E-ridersgoing by the name of ‘Foxy
uring this unprecedented period of history we areliving through the world seems once again this year to have come
Fillies’,with the intention of giving each other support with our riding and having afocus that we could share. We come from all partsof England, three being based in Hampshire, one in Essexand twoofusonthe Isle of Wight. Now, normally logistically this would be adifficult thing to manage getting together to compete but with the beautyofonline dressage we have been able to competeinthe team tournament right through and have had greatfun gaining ourselves thirdplaceout of fiftythree teams! All, without even leaving home to do it! Online dressage has been around fora
long time,but it has neverbeen as popular as it is at
present.FromLeadReinclasses to Advanced,thereisaclassthatwill suit everyone and neverhas there been abetter time to try anopressurelevel up in dressage. Apart from the dressage thereare classesfor Freestyle Dressage to Music, Prix Caprilli and Polework. The online communitiesfor each organisation running the events, arefull of enthusiasm and motivation forthose people wantingtotry something new. Thereisa supportivevirtual world at your fingertips.
Foranyonewanting to try Trec overthe winter
months, Dressage4all have online classes. The obstaclesare easy to set up and it is greathaving anew challenge.Weformed another team for competing with ‘TrecRidersClub’,who run Team competitions and Individual classesonline,once again with averysupportiveFacebook group who cananswerany queries. It wasthe first time Ihavetried doing anyTrec, but it has certainly encouraged me to go out and do something oncethe world has returned to normal. Concoursd’elegancealso has had afew
competitions online.Tanya Guest of TG Equine services had to cancel thetraining showthat she wasputting on with the KnightsofMiddle England. She decided that as it could not go ahead in the planned format, she would do something positiveand put the showononline. Iadorewatching Concoursbut had yettotake part in anything and here, in the middle of England in lockdown, wasmyopportunity. I duly put together acostume,scrubbed up both myself and Duranteand rode atwo-minute showinarather lovely navy velvet number -possibly looking alittle likethe Duchess of Devonshire’spoor relation! It did feel rather wonderfulthough, to don something glamorous and out of my
ordinary.Thisshowprovided aridden classaswellasphoto entries. Iam hopefulthatthe Concoursd’eleganceSociety of GB will be putting on an online showaswell TanyaGuest running afew more. The entries looked fabulous both sidesaddle and astride. The Lockdown Showrun by Lindsey
Hilton and Julia Ryde-Rogersraise money forcharityand has both photoentry showing classesand ridden classes, so absolutely everyone cantakepart. Thereare some great tips and videos on their website to help with online showing and showing in general. Endurancehasn’tescaped online competing
SandraPowerOnlineDressage 46 WINTERSPECIAL2020
either,Iamreally
happytosay.Sussexbased, Hannah Griffin has organised online monthly riding challengesand hasraised nearly 12k for
Forthe
latestnewsvisitwww.centralhorsenews.co.uk
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