In the world of equestrian, there is no more a famous event venue than Badminton in South Gloustershire; and it is every Eventer’s dream to compete in the grounds of this historic estate.
The Badminton Horse Trials is a World Class Competition attracting the sport’s top-flight athletes who compete for the coveted title.
But running alongside the ‘big’ event is the Mitsubishi Motors Cup – a competition for the very best amateurs and stars of the future.
To enter ‘the Cup’, Eventers have to compete in a number of UK-local events finishing in the top 20%, but then score again in the top 20% at ‘regional’ level to earn a place on the Badminton soil.
This year 21 year old Jade Cannell from Santon had qualified for the Cup with her 8 year old Gelding “Got To Guess” whose stable name is ‘Marty’.
Eventing consist of 3 disciplines, Dressage; showing off skills of control, discipline and concentration in a usually silent arena, Show Jumping; familiar to many people with an arena course of jumps. The course must be completed in a time without knocking the poles from their stands. Then there is the grueling challenge of 'Cross Country'. The horse and rider must get around a substantial course with a variety of different jumps and distractions – but within an allotted time. The course can be over 10 minutes of non stop chasing towards each fence or obstacle, while the seconds tick away towards that optimum time.
Jade entered the 100 Class and scored 37.8 in Dressage, had a clear round in Show Jumping leaving all the jumps intact, and then a clear Cross Country only 1 second over the optimum time. That gave her a score penalty of 0.4 and a total of 38.2.
She finished a respectable 27th overall out of 66 finishers (75 starters) and places her as the highest Manx competitor to have competed at the event over the years.
