Meet Claire 'Tig' Abel, an amateur dressage rider based in Buckinghamshire. She currently owns 12-year old Roo (aka Rowan Magic) and 9-year old Coco (aka RoCoco). 'Amateur' doesn't really do this talented lady justice given her professional approach to training and competing, which, by the way, she juggles around running her own accountancy business, AccountAbel. Here she shares her first experience of competing internationally when she was invited to compete Roo in Saumur.
In the UK, to ride internationally in dressage you need to achieve scores of 67% or more at Premier League level. Having qualified you then apply to
British Dressage to be considered for selection. This year, for the second time in as many years, Tig and Roo qualified to ride internationally at Prix St George and Inter1 levels. Having competed at a home international at
Hartpury CDI last year, the pair were selected to ride this year in the beautiful location of Saumur, France."I put our names down for the CDI's at Le Mans or Samur, but I really wanted to go to Saumur, so I was chuffed to bits when we were chosen," explains Tig.
Tig decided to travel from Portsmouth to Caens. "I was the solo driver so I needed to keep the driving as minimal as possible." This ferry crossing is about 8 hours long, giving a total driving time of about 6 hours. And how did Roo find his first water crossing? "He shook the whole way there," says Tig. "They try to keep the horseboxes together at the ports, but you are in with all the freight traffic, so there's a lot of clanging and noise." She continues:"On the ferry, you have to be escorted by a member of staff if you're going to the horsebox, so it made it quite difficult to check on the horses." However, on the way back, Roo wore his 'ears' - the
Equiline Soundless Earnet provides soundproofing and this seemed to resolve any anxiety issues. "Despite the challenges of the ferry trip, Roo unloaded at Saumur as fresh as ever and clearly knew 'he had arrived'!" she laughs.
How did Tig cope with her nerves given the grand occasion? She takes a big intake of breath before responding. "The atmosphere was incredible. The seating around the arena was quite high, so you felt like you were riding alone until the crowd applauds at the end. They even had a chandelier suspended above X!" What was the highlight? "O goodness, all of it!" she smiles. "I went into the first class [the Inter I] thinking I was just there to make up numbers, but when we came 5th out of 26, I had a bit more belief in what we could do." This meant they qualified for the final music class where they improved and were awarded 4th.
Click here for the video of Claire and Roo's performance.
Many of us daydream of riding internationally, but as amateurs, we often think this is an impossible dream. "A lot of people think they can't do it," agrees Tig. "But you have to believe in yourself and your horse. Aim high. Don't wait until you are absolutely foot perfect at any level either. Be brave and give that next level a go, otherwise you'll always talk yourself out of doing it."
Kathryn White
is owner and director of Cathean Ltd Medical and Copy Writing Services. She is a
published medical, copy and equestrian writer with a passion for creating
compelling text in collaboration with her clients. Her customers include pharmaceutical,
healthcare and equestrian businesses across the world.
