Today (Friday the 12th of July) saw the start of the 2024 edition of the RDA’s National Championships that are held annually at Hartpury University and College in Gloucestershire.
Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal has attended the championships in for many years as the president of the association, I was lucky enough to meet her when she visited Herefordshire RDA’s Holme Lacey centre just weeks after competing at the championships in September 2013.
I made my debut at the championships in July 2005, competing in Countryside Challenge which saw me take home a 5th placed rosette, I returned to the championships just two years later in July 2007 and managed to win my Countryside Challenge section and take home the class champion trophy.
A few years later I took up Dressage and returned to Hartpury and entered a completely different discipline, that I must say was completely out of my comfort zone. I did not give up and kept working hard with my coaches to became the best that I could be at the sport despite being relevantly new to it.
Ricky Balshaw, a former Paralympic Dressage rider was enlisted by my coaches to help me develop some of the skills that I wasn’t so good at in my dressage test, Ricky spent an hour or so with me to find some different ways of how I could do this.
A few months later I was given the opportunity by Ricky to visit his training yard and ride the horse that he rode at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
I then went to compete at the championships for a few more years before making my last appearance at the event as a senior competitor in July 2016 where I finished joint 10th in my class.
There was a memorable occasion one year at the championships where spectators where asked not to applaud as I entered the arena because my horse did not like loud noises, however the audience failed to heed these warnings from the public address system announcer and applauded.
This then led to my horse becoming distressed and bucking forcing me and my support team to shout “please do not clap” on a couple of occasions, I then attempted to complete a warm up lap of the outside of the arena but this failed to settle my horse, Murphy.
I was unfortunately forced to retire from competition because it would have been unsafe for myself, Murphy and my coach to continue.
I would urge any one who is spectating at the championships in Gloucestershire over the next couple of days to take note of any announcements from the public address system in relation to not applauding at the start and end of competition if asked not to do so because you will be putting the horse, competitor and there coach at risk.
Dressage is an incredibly difficult discipline and the competitors don’t need any added stress on the day of competition.
I would like to wish all the competitors, there horses and coaches all the very best this weekend and I hope that they go and do themselves proud , which is what it is all about at the end of the day.
You should all be incredibly proud of what you have achieved in the last 12 months to get to this point, it is not easy getting though a local show and regional qualifier.
Did this post inspire you as someone with a disability to take up Dressage or Countryside Challenge then why not find your nearest RDA group here: https://rda.org.uk/rda-groups/.
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A massive shout out must go to my former coaches who helped me achieve my dream of becoming an RDA National Champion on several occasions. I would also like to pay special tribute to my parents and grandparents for supporting me over the years by taking me to training and in some cases competitions.
Thank you must also go to you, my readers and followers who have taken the time out of their busy schedules twice this week to read my posts, it doesn’t go unnoticed and is very much appreciated.
Cam
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