Equestrian Vacations

A question often asked is what experience do the Equestrian Escapes team have with horses?

Well, my name is Emma Shore and I own a horse called Wee Welsh Lady (Lady). I have been working at Equestrian Escapes for the past 3 years on a part time basis whilst studying at University. Lady is a Welsh Cob x Throughbred. I compete with Lady most weekends in BSJA showjumping competitions. To date I have won many prestigious competitions.

I got Lady 7 years ago and she had never done any show jumping before. She had previously competed in working hunter classes to a high level and qualified and competed at many of the top shows.

She was the perfect horse for me as I was only 13 when I got her so we could both start in British Novice classes and slowly progress together. Soon after this I had qualified for the British Novice and Discovery Championships in Lincolnshire. Unfortunately because I was still at school I couldn’t compete in the Discovery as it was during school time. However, I went and competed in the British Novice. I qualified for the final in which I came 2^nd. I also won the under 21 qualifier but didn’t jump her in the final as we wanted to save her for the British Novice.

After this success I qualified for numerous other championships including the Scope 1.15 metre class. At Scope I qualified for the main ring in the 1.15 metre. This class was inside and there was a fountain in the ring and Lady hates water. I was slightly worried that there was a fence that looked like it was jumping straight into the fountain and I was correct to be worried. I fell off and ended up breaking my finger. However, after this I came 3^rd in the Star of the Future class.

Additionally, she won a Welsh Master Championship as well as numerous 1.15, 1.20, 1.25 and 1.30 classes. In August 2009 I won 2 championships at Aintree Equestrian Centre.

Lady was having a rest during the winter of 2009 when she jumped put of her field onto the concrete yard. When she did this she slipped onto her hock and cut a large area of her hock down to the bone as well as cutting her coronary band on her front hoof. She was rushed to the vets and underwent an operation. She had to have her hock thoroughly washed to try to avoid infection and she had stitches in her front hoof. She then had to have 4 months box rest whilst the wound healed and all the time we didn’t know whether she would ever recover. About 2 months ago I started riding her again and getting her back to fitness. She has now been to 4 shows and she has been placed 3^rd in 2 competitions and 1^st in 2 competitions of which one was a 1.15m Amateur Championship qualifier. I am now aiming at building her up to larger competitions including the 1.20m HOYS qualifier and numerous championships.