Talking of ...THANK YOU for sponsoring us at the
HOME INTERNATIONAL and CELTIC CHALLENGE
at the Donard Festival of Endurance!
The Home International/Celtic Challenge is an Endurance competition held annually, with teams competing from Scotland, England (HI), Wales, Cornwall (CC), and Ireland. Classes range from 40km to 2-day 160km, and we have been chosen as the Scottish reserve combination for the 40km Novice classes—a great honour for an Endurance horse in his first competitive season!
The PONY:
Button-Biting Benjamin, or Benji to his friends, is a bright-bay 14.1 gelding with an unfortunate tendency to be wider than he is tall. We think he may be about 10 years old, although his passport claims that he's 12 (his past appears to be a bit checkered). Benji has a small white triangle on his nose, and likes anything that he can eat. He thinks that he can eat buttons.
Benji came to me in 2008. We tried to do dressage, because that's what I like to do, and got as far as a decent Novice score before he decided to pack it in. Attempts at teaching him to jump have led to various A&E visits, so we're a bit cautious in that respect. However, he seems to have a knack for trotting and cantering for long distances without tiring, so Endurance is the discipline for him!
The RIDER:
My name is Frauke Jürgensen. I was born in Germany, grew up in Canada, and came to live in Scotland in 2007, where I work as a Lecturer in Music at the University of Aberdeen. Apart from pursuing musicological research and wrestling undergraduates, I perform as a singer, dancer, and organist.
I began riding lessons when I was 9, under the tutelage of an Austrian dressage rider. This means that I sit very straight, but can get very worried when I'm in a big open field, with no fences, on a horse with acute brakes failure! I am becoming gradually inured to such situations with increased exposure, thankfully.
Benji and I have participated in Pleasure Rides since 2009. At our first ride, we took the “Pleasure” bit quite literally, until I realised that we'd gone only 1/4 of the route, but in 1/2 the allotted time! Since then, we've wised up a bit, and this spring, we did our two “Bronze Thistle Qualifiers” (competitive rides of 30km+, to be ridden at a minimum speed of 9.5kph). This season, I hope that we can complete our “Bronze Thistle” by competing in a 50km ride in August. “To complete is to win!”
