When we last penned a blog, we said the ‘summer madness’ was underway - well it really hasn’t stopped since! We have had a very busy and extremely successful summer here at Team Chapman Equestrian, which is exactly how we like it. Having said that, at one show in August Mel rode a whopping 11 tests on 6 different horses in 4.5 hours… Perhaps a little less busy might be a good thing?!
The return of a virtually normal summer season saw us out several times a week competing with our established dressage horses and a lot of young dressage and event horses. Melissa was over the moon to qualify 6 horses for the LeMieux National Dressage Championships which took place in mid-September at Somerford Park in Cheshire. The preparations paid off with an amazing fourth place in the Shearwater 4-year-old class for Majesteit TCE. His temperament is second to none and Melissa is incredibly lucky and grateful that her parents have stepped in to help her keep this special boy. Sadly, Romeo wasn’t on the same form, but we know he will have his day again soon.
Last week we were at Hickstead for the NEXGEN Young Horse Series Championship Final with six of our wonderful youngsters. Our classy homebred young event horse Madame Revolution TCE jumped a beautiful double clear in the four year old eventing championships expertly piloted by Holly Richardson. We still have a couple of syndicate shares available so please do drop us a line to find out more. Maverick TCE was a little overwhelmed with the atmosphere but he is going to be a very exciting horse for the future when he is a little stronger. Majesteit TCE followed up his championship fourth by finishing third in a very competitive NEXGEN 4 year old dressage final.
Away from the ring we have seen lots of our young horses heading off to new homes and we look forward to seeing them thrive with their new owners. If you’re on the hunt for your next dressage or eventing superstar we have several more currently for sale, including a 6-year-old mare by Take it 2 the Limit out of a Mill Law/Jumbo mare who qualified for the Regionals in just 2 outings! There’s also a son of legendary event stallion Chilli Morning who has evented to 3* level and is now on the hunt for home working towards medium level dressage.
We’ve also been holding our popular training camps throughout the summer and into autumn, with our final one for 2021 this coming weekend. It’s been a real treat to welcome riders back to TCE and see them make so much progress in just a few days. There’s inevitably a lot of laughter and fun too, so if you’re interested in hearing about future camps, make sure you drop us a line. The latest camp attendees enjoyed our new clubhouse, part of the indoor school completed this year, which has seating, a large kitchen, and a dining table to all sit around. It’s very sociable and the perfect place to stop for a natter after a lesson.
So, there you have it - another summer has flown by and even as we look forward to winter, it feels like we’re lucky to still be busy! In fact, we’re so busy that we’re on the hunt for a new team member. If you know someone who would slot into our hardworking, passionate and fun-loving team, send them our way…