Gosling Cup 2010 

Berwick Farm,  Stanford Rivers, Ongar Essex  CM5 9PY

Sunday 22nd August 2010.

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It was our turn to host this competition and we started planning it back in November last year.   As a branch we are very lucky to have the use of Berwick Farm, Stanford Rivers by kind permission of John and Jane Pearl who are so very helpful to us.  We wanted to change the XC course round a bit to make it different from our usual ODEs and Hunter Trials, and we invited sponsors to pay for some new fences and as a result of this, Graham Wallin was able to build some superb new obstacles for the occasion, all themed according to the sponsor’s wishes.  These included a canine suitcase for Kents Farm Boarding Kennels, a picnic table for Cuisine Royale, pencils for LDR Stationery, and a medical kit for House and Jackson to name a few.  Some of our members and their families designed their own fences – the Dogs Bone by the Hunter Family, and the Cooke family designed a very moving tribute to young EHNPC member Lizzie Cooke who died so tragically as a result of a road accident two years ago aged 7 yrs.  Graham and his wife Ann worked tirelessly on the new fences and these were enhanced by the  building of a new route through the water, which was generously sponsored by the Pearls.  In order to get most riders round, there were easier Learner fences at the more challenging obstacles which incurred a 5 point penalty if jumped ... our aim was to get everyone round (which we almost managed).

 

On the day, the venue looked terrific.  Chris Trembath’s lovely yellow and white marquee was the focal point and tradestands were alongside the main arena where the show jumping took place over a lovely course built by our own Norman Hudson, (who by the way, we couldn’t do without – thank you Norman!).  It rained slightly in the morning just to worry us, but that soon cleared up and the sun shone nearly all day on the 21 teams who travelled from the outskirts of Essex, Cambs, Herts and Suffolk to compete for the coveted trophy. 

 

Gosling Cup is unique in that it dates back to just after the war and was one of the first horse trials type competitions to be run.  It is primarily a team event and participating Pony Club Branches are invited to send up to 3 teams of 4 riders each to compete in tack and turnout, dressage, team ride, cross country and finally show jumping.  Each team rides one after the other (or in the tack and turnout, dressage and team ride, all together) which makes it easier for supporters to watch and retains a true team spirit.  The whole day is rounded off by a magnificent mounted prize-giving in the main ring where the numerous team and individual awards are presented. Every competitor receives a commemorative rosette and many receive several from the various phases.

 

Gosling Cup has its own unique scoring system which is different from any other and baffles most people, but we were able to get our heads round it all and with the help of Andy Ashcroft, the official Gosling Cup Scorer, came up with all the results at the end of the day!  Excellent! It was lovely that Mrs Lyster, who is Mrs Gosling’s daughter, was able to attend and present the prizes to the winning teams - well done to East Essex A team who were the eventual winners, and to Essex Farmers A who were runners up.  Our home teams won the Team Ride (A team) and Tack and Turnout (B team) and the A team were 5^th overall so we were very pleased with that.   There were some fabulous prizes presented by kind sponsors including rugs for the winners from Pulfords of Dunmow,  vouchers from Ingatestone Saddlery Co, polo shirts from Hooked on Horses magazine, and bandages and vouchers from Janette Moss Horsewear. and Hooked on Horses also provided wristbands for every competitor.   These and the other many donations were very gratefully received. 

 

To run an event of this size requires hundreds of willing helpers, mainly volunteers, to take on endless hours of work, from the planning stage to the few weeks running up to and the actual day itself.  We had people painting (Cooke family), strimming (Parker), putting up the marquee (many), gosling dressing (Lynne Pattle), making Gosling Pie for the VIP lunches (Lesley), providing Christmas trees (Mrs Caton), growing colour coded plants (Ann Brown), producing the programme (Simon Hutley), not to mention course building and flagging and on the day the gangs of judges, fence judges, writers, stewards, car parking stewards and countless other roles which were performed fantastically.   Suffice to say we are very grateful to the many kind people who stepped up willingly to help us run this prestigious event.   

 

We hope we did the tradition of Gosling Cup proud in 2010 and that everyone enjoyed their day and we wish the very best of luck to Essex and Suffolk who will be hosting the 2011 competition.