Winners all round at first ever Team Quest final

Norfolk Divas, Little Little Little and Large and The Charnwood Chancers were the three big winners at the first ever Team Quest finals over the weekend at Bury Farm, Buckinghamshire (1 – 2 November 2014).

Since March this year, teams up and down the country have spent their weekends travelling to TQ competitions, accumulating points to make it to the big final. Over the course of the two day competition, 195 competitors in 50 teams contested in one class per day – with the top three percentages from each team on each day combining to achieve an overall score.

Under 16s team, Norfolk Divas took the top title in their section with a combined score of 420.25. Made up of prelim riders – 14-year-old Sophie Mann riding her own 12-year-old gelding, Danesfort Boy, 15-year-old Lily Wilson on her own 13-year-old strawberry roan mare Flying Time, 15-year-old Kate London with her own 16-year-old UK-bred mare, Greenvale Legacy and, in the intro, 15-year-old Jess Mills on Kay Mills’ 14-year-old mare, Montague Spot – the team pitched their place in the top spot from the very beginning with Sophie and Danesfort Boy scoring Saturday’s highest percentage with 76.17% in the prelim (a little side note: because of Sophie’s fantastic score, she won the privilege of presenting the top three in the Moet & Chandon PSG Freestyle with their prizes).

Little Little Little and Large topped the leader board in the under 25s section. 17-year-old Jack Wainwright with his own seven year old gelding, Dark Bacardi, 16-year-old Geneva Low riding her own 14-year-old KWPN gelding, Tristan Blue and 13-year-old Liberty Tyler with Lara Dyson’s 21-year-old gelding, Ermin Street gained great scores in the novice – their best came from Jack and Dark Bacardi on the Saturday, who gained an impressive 71.55% - whilst 11-year-old Olivia Whitelaw gained two 70%+ scores in the prelim with her own 17-year-old 13hh gelding, Holyoake River Phoenix.

However, it was a tight battle for first place in the u25s with second-placed Naturally Natives just 0.1 of a mark behind the winners and the eventual third-placed Cheshire Chicks holding the lead after the first day.

Similar to the Norfolk Divas, open team The Charnwood Chancers led the pack from the off with three 70%+ scores on Saturday. Consisting of prelim riders, Georgina Fielding on J Wilson’s seven year old gelding, Kilcarna Harry, Natasha Dobson on her own six year old Belgian mare, Camaretto BF 3, 16-year-old Lottie Bailey with Emma Thompson’s 11-year-old mare, Cool Compliments and Kirsty Moreton with her own home bred four year old mare, Primitive Dizzie Diamond, the quartet kept cool under pressure and managed to stand firm on the Sunday to take the open title.

Chairman of British Dressage, Penny Pollard and WEG team silver medallist, Gareth Hughes, travelled to the Buckinghamshire venue to present the prizes. However, it wasn’t just the top ten in each section who received awards; there were several special prizes up for grabs over the course of the weekend too. Open team, Yahooligans took home Best Dressed for their amazing outfit coordination and inventiveness – with all horses sporting a clipped ribbon in their coat, representing their support towards a fellow team mate, who has competed in TQ whilst battling breast cancer. Collecting the Best Team Spirit award was the loud and lively u16s team, Chaos Cousins who could not be missed as they gathered round the arenas whenever their team mates competed to sing, dance and do whatever they could to settle their comrade’s nerves.

However, the most talked about award over the competition was the Best Team Selfie. Across the weekend, teams placed themselves in every scenario possible to get the perfect picture and, although it was a very close decision, the accolade went to u16s team, Dressage Diamonds (left).

Want to get involved with Team Quest in 2015? Click here to discover more and here to read the changes for next year, the new season kicks in February 2015 – make sure you’re ready!

For full results, click here.

Results

U16

1^st Norfolk Divas, 420.25

2^nd Moor Farm Muppets, 410.49

3^rd Pony Tales, 408.51

4^th Green’s Little Divas, 406.47

5^th WMDG Bluebirds 1, 405.90

6^th HP We Always Get Our Own Neigh, 404.35

7^th WMDG Bluebirds 2, 403.71

8^th Team Insanity, 401.56

9^th PES Small But Mighty, 401.33

10^th WMDG Bluebirds 3, 399.12

U25

1^st Little, Little, Little and Large, 416.37

2^nd Naturally Natives, 416.27

3^rd Cheshire Chicks, 414.03

4^th Ratty’s Rascals, 412.99

5^th Ready Steady Ride Fillies, 412.90

6^th Jackpot Divas, 410.65

7^th We Did It Our Neigh, 409.77

8^th Pembrokeshire Lunachicks, 405.54

9^th Bayford Hall Knightmares, 400.31

10^th Pic n Mix, 393.70

Open

1^st The Charnwood Chancers, 434.79

2^nd Eccleshall Allsorts, 429.21

3^rd The Shropshire Stars, 420.51

4^th Reflex Reaction, 416.08

5^th Apple Tarts, 412.69

6^th Really Desperate Horsewives, 412.60

7^th Cast-Aways, 411.27

8^th Shallots in the Garden, 410.57

9^th C3i Dragons, 410.06

10^th Northern Belles, 407.96