Small People and Ponies Endurance Team (“SPPET”) Competition Report

The Oakley Hunt (West) SPPET took part in their first competition on 22 March 2009.

Oliver Barrett, Emily Dunning, Scarlett Lawson, Tom Barrett

Starting from the Events Plaza Milton Keynes and including a Robin class with no minimum age, this was a brilliant opportunity to kick off Endurance for the most junior members of the Club.  Organised by the Whaddon Chase PC the event was the official launch of Pony Club Endurance and over 55 competitors took part in 5 classes.   A high publicity event it and included a free hospitality tent which went down very well with competitors and crew alike – somehow we missed the BBC TV cameras, which could have been because we were too busy eating cake!   And there were other freebies and a smashing Rosette for every class.

The team completed a mostly off road 4km ride (over parts of the 75miles of bridleways in MK) and we were lucky to have a lovely sunny day.  Each member of the team was accompanied by at least one adult on foot.   Average speed was 11.6 kph, below the optimum time of 10 kph but well within the minimum speed of 15kph.  Despite excellent ground conditions the pace of the riders was rather hampered by the relatively low levels of fitness of the runners, especially on the hills – note has been made and separate training runs will be organised for the adults…   A big thanks to ‘Team Emily’ who provided crew support on route.

Restraint was the order of the day, good practice for the longer rides where care has to taken to keep to a constant pace – the team managed to resist the enormous temptation to gallop up the Beacon.   The Robin ride was well within the capabilities of the team, who were eager to go round the course again!!!

For the Robin ride no vet checks were needed.  All ponies appeared sound but some concern was expressed about the state of Magic’s gut – 1 wee and 5 poo stops and ‘blow off’s’ too numerous to mention indicated that the pony’s diet needed review.  Oliver will be looking into nutrition for long distance events and making appropriate changes before the next competition.

Looking forward the Team will be arranging training rides of 3 miles upwards – Oakley West minis with small riders and small ponies (with appropriate pony paces) will be invited to join them.   Tom and Scarlett are over 8 and so can take part in Merlin training rides of 8km and competition Kestrel rides of 16km and over.   For these distances they will need to secure ‘safe’ adult escorts on horseback (Vicki and Caroline are working on this, especially keen as it means no more running).

All in all the Oakley are very hopeful that we have the foundations of a highly successful young Endurance Team for next year.