Alice Hallows Eventing NEW ringcraft blog
Monthly RingCraft lessons since August have kept Alice in with a good shout at every event of 2021. Now we're preparing for the top level!!
Hello and a very warm welcome to my new blog! It is very exciting to reach out to you all about my eventing journey, especially as I have reached a point where going Advanced next year is a possibility.
Winter is drawing in and the rain is beginning to fall, but it isn’t dampening our spirits at home as we have had a good season of eventing memories to keep us all going.
Home for me is in Suffolk near Ipswich and I help my parents Mike and Sarah run a Livery and Training yard - we have a total of 26 horses to look after including six event horses.
Wow, six event horses I still can’t wrap my head around it.
Without further a do let me introduce them to you and through their stories you will learn bits and pieces about me.
Newferry Irish Mist jumping double clear in the CCI3*-S at Nunney International in June 2021.
Everyone has a horse of a lifetime and Misty is mine. A great 7 year partnership sees progressing through BE90 to Intermediate or 2* to 3*. Misty has completed 23 Intermediates spanning over three seasons; she is now 15 and still going strong. A feisty package in a 15.3 hh body, walking in our dressage tests can sometimes be too much to ask! I have often had a sympathetic ‘bad luck’ comment from judges for scoring 4’s for jogging. All is forgiven though, as I can always rely on full effort in the jumping phases pulling out double clears when it really matters and there is nothing like going cross country on Misty.
Putting our dancing shoes on at Bicton International October 2021.
Vintage Graffiti - Fritz
‘Rain will not stop us!’ Vintage Graffiti jumping double clear in his CCI3*-S debut at Bicton International in October 2021.
An amazing opportunity came my way in 2018 when I was finishing my BTECH Applied Science at college and whilst many of my friends were heading off to university I was set on eventing. Anna Soroko and Bob Huxster have been long time family friends and wanted to give me a leg up in my career, so Fritz has been a joy in our lives for four years. Beginning at grassroots and having successes at Novice and 2* the start of our Intermediate campaign was not exactly plain sailing. We had a fall at Pointispool intermediate in 2020 over a corner and I went flying, literally, I rolled out of the Equireel frame! Quickly I hasten to add, our 2021 season has been super: 10th in the CCI2*-S at Nunney, double clears with placings at Intermediates and a cracking double clear in the CCI3*-S at Bicton International to end the season. I hope you can appreciate how soaking wet we are in the cross country photos from Bicton, a prime example of why eventers should ride in the rain!
Pinging the final corner at Bicton International CCI3*-S in October 2021.
Quizical Z - Quiz
Open Pony Club Championship Reserve Champions at Wellington International in August 2021.
I have been very fortunate to have the support of so many wonderful owners over the past few years but the relationship between Martha Terry and Anna and Bob is a special one. This bit can be little bit confusing so bare with. Martha has a lovely mare called Whimsical (Fizz) and whilst I was competing Fizz when I was 16, Quiz was born who is her foal through embryo transfer. Once Quiz was three she came to us to be backed and produced to eventually sell. Quiz we knew was a really special horse and through my love for Fizz who you couldn’t help but find yourself smiling with I really wanted to keep up the relationship I was beginning with Quiz. We dubbed her ‘Fizz Deluxe’ . I am so thankful to Anna and Bob who decided to have a second event horse and to allow me to continue our journey together. And what fun we have had!
Highlights of our 2021 season are: 3rd in the CCI2*-S at Nunney, double clear in the Intermediate at Little Downham in October and double clear to come 7th in the CCI2*-S at Bicton International to finish off our season.
Another magical thing about horses are the memories you create, yes we want to be as competitive as we can, but the friendships we form with fellow riders are equally as important. At the Open Eventing Pony Club Championship not only did I have a personal success of becoming Reserve Champion but we contributed to Area 8 Team who won the team competition alongside two life long friends Pip Taylor and Jemima Upton. Jemima won it overall too which was great to celebrate.
Special moments the Area 8 team - from left to right myself, Jemima and Pip.
Whatahout - Spencer
On the back straight at Little Downham competing in the BE100 in October 2021.
At least once you should breed a homebred and this lovely dark bay, 16.2hh sports horse is our Spencer. His dam is Mistress Nel who was my uncle’s National Hunt long distance racehorse and his sire is Mednight Mahout (Jumbo lines). He finished the 2021 season confidently competing at BE100 including winning the Open100 at Keysoe. It will be a fantastic achievement to compete at Novice level with him next season. Spencer is loved by all the staff and liveries as they have seen him grow from a foal, so there is quite a pressure to do well!
2022 Onwards
I am very pleased to have two new rides Islington Faerie (Faerie) who is a bay mare owned by Clare and Phoebe Prixdeaux, and Luna Eclipse (Luna) who is owned by Michael and Cordelia Barlow.
I have already competed Faerie at Little Downham in our first competition jumping double clear in the Novice. Already we are forming a encouraging partnership so it is exciting for next year.
Regarding Luna she already has experience at Novice and is a chestnut mare. I have only ridden her twice so far, but I have enjoyed each time and by the time this is published more than likely she has already moved into the yard.
To be heading into the winter with six lovely horses the reality of becoming a professional event rider is in motion.
I would like to finish thanking Alex Gingell for supporting me with his RingCraft clinics and encouraging me to become an ambassador and doing monthly blogs.
Alex and I clicked from the word go at these clincs and I always look forward to him coming. To have a judge in your ear as you ride through a test giving comments and marks is brilliant in itself. But to know the training experience Alex has had and he has actually competed successfully at Advanced level makes his words of wisdom truly helpful. He knows what he wants to see at C to get a higher mark in each movement of each test, it's this that gives me homework for the rest of the month. When you go up the levels, your work has to improve to get the same marks, so if you're wanting better marks, as I do, then you need to keep improving. I recommend Alex's RingCraft clinics to everyone - wouldn't be without them.
And, thank you to Maddie who runs EventingUk for this amazing platform to tell my eventing journey.
I hope you have all had a good November with your own horses and thank you for reading my first ever attempt at a blog!
