2008 AQHA YOUTH WORLD CUP

TEAM UNITED KINGDOM RIDES THE DREAM!

 BY TEAM UNITED KINGDOM

Team "UK" blogs the daily experience for the folks back home; meet the team on the bio page. 

Tuesday, July 8 - We Miss You 

Team UK brought along a doll to represent teammate Becki Dixon who was unable to make the trip. "We miss you, Becki!"

Becki Dixon was an original member of the United Kingdom team, but due to an extremely unfortunate accident whilst riding her own horse, she severely broke her leg and was therefore unable to compete at the Youth World Cup. Becki is an extremely talented rider and was a very valuable member of the team, and she is greatly missed by all team members. You may wonder why the UK have been carrying around a doll, this is because we wanted to feel as if a little part of Becki was with us -this would have been Becki’s last opportunity to show at the Youth World Cup. As a team and as her friends, we would like to say that we miss you Becki, and we wish you a speedy recovery and the best of luck in the future with your horse career.

--Lily Fry

This was the day after the draw of horses. The UK riders evaluated each horse to see what disciplines they were good at. Four extra horses were given to our leadership team to exercise and look after.

To help the riders with getting to know the horses and give them a few more tips before the show, clinics were held: western pleasure, western riding and trail.

In the evening, there was a (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) musical ride, similar to the Canadian Cowgirls. They displayed many different maneuvers in time to various types of music.

--Katie Redfern and Lisa Cockburn

 

Monday, July 7 – Fun at the Falls

Team alternates Tom Howell and Ralph Titmuss watch a clinic. On Tuesday, Tom rode an alternate horse in the western riding clinic.

First of all, today we attended the horses as usual, i.e., the riders rode them and the alternates cleaned their stalls. But today there were two clinics – one was showmanship and the other horsemanship. Every team had one or two members participate.

After riding at the AgriPlex, we all got on the bus, including the parents, and we drove two hours to the Niagara Falls. Everybody took this once in a lifetime opportunity and had a great time.

The United Kingdom team rode the Maid of the Mist. It was great because we got right up close to the falls, and everybody got wet. Two hours later, we all climbed back onto the bus and headed home once more.

The bus journey was great. Everybody was singing and having a good time – there were also prizes for the best singers.

--Tom Howell

[Click here for pics of the teams at Niagara Falls.]

Sunday, July 6 – Cowgirls and Paint Fights

Team UK at the welcome dinner Saturday, July 5, in the Great Hall of the University of Western Ontario.

This was the first proper day of the Youth World Cup and the experience started to come to life! All teams traveled to the Western Fair on typical Canadian yellow buses full of nervous yet excited participants.

In the main arena we decorated where we sat with flags and bunting. There were speeches about the competition and thank yous for the owners, sponsors and volunteers.

After the speeches we watched a performance by the Canadian Cowgirls, which involved synchronized formations, stunt riding and lots of ‘whooping.’ The Cowgirls rode around with each country’s flags and then the teams entered the arena for our parade. We wore our blue shirts and flags. Each country was called forward to their national anthem and stood with the cowgirl and flag for photos.

We then drew the order that each country would pick their group of horses in. Once we finished lunch, we drew our horses in the barn.

Checking out their new stable of horses, "group six."

We drew “team six,” and we all hurried to the stables to see what horses we had. We then decorated the stalls and the riders rode the horses for the first time. The leadership program went around to each team to hand out souvenirs and to chat.

In the evening, we had team building with the Cowgirls. Everyone was given a tag and you went into groups with the people with the same tag. We did various activities such as lassoing, painting flags on each other, races, twister and lots more. This was really good as it made everyone talk to each other and make friends.

It all ended in a paint fight! Not many people managed to avoid the paint so we all looked pretty weird.

Some people went to bed whilst some went out to meet with other teams. Altogether, it was an awesome first day.

-- Lisa Cockburn and Katie Redfern