Woodside Endurance

Team Rubyn
(thanks to Roger Dark for taking the photo)

We've been pretty quiet on this page this year. All building up to very exciting weekend ahead

Sarah Rogerson, 31, set to ride for Britain as European Endurance Championship returns to UK after 26 years. Abergavenny-based vet named as British Team Vet

Endurance GB has announced that 31-year-old Chepstow-based rider Sarah Rogerson will be on the British team who will compete at the FEI CH-EU-E 160km European Championships at Euston Park in Suffolk on 17 August 2019.

Sarah’s team place with her horse Warrens Hill Rubyn was announced following a final assessment of horses at Warwick International School of Riding on Sunday 4th August.

Commenting on her team place Sarah Rogerson who works as a data scientist for a water consultancy, said: “I'm proud to be competing at the Europeans for Team GB and will be aiming to lead by example with dignity and passion for my horse and my sport. I have competed at Euston Park a number of times over the years, I know the course well, which parts of the course to respect and where to pick up the pace.”

She said competing at a home-based Championship made selection this year extra special. “The endurance community in this country is pretty amazing, so it will be very nice to share the experience with other riders and supporters of the sport on home soil.”

Although based in Chepstow, Sarah keeps her horses at her parents’ yard, Woodside Endurance, Woolaston, Gloucestershire and trains in the hills on the Welsh borders and around the Forest of Dean. All the family are involved in the sport of endurance riding and

Sarah’s mother Mary Stubbs, father Steve Rogerson and her twin sister Rachael will also be crewing her during the 160km (100-mile) competition.

Sarah has been involved in the sport for more than 20 years.

“I love the challenge of endurance - a tough sport, the freedom and energy of a seriously fit horse, the lifelong memories of the very good days.

“It’s very much a family thing. My sister and I started competing when we were younger and I have many happy memories of crewing for my mum with my dad and sister.”

Now the tables have turned and Sarah relies on her family for support with competing at the highest level of the sport.

“My mum helps out a lot with the day to day feeding and care which allows me to focus on fitting in training.

“I try to get two decent work outs in a week at the moment, mostly high intensity, hill work or longer canter work. Other than that we do a bit of schooling and short hacks to keep the brain focused. The area we are in is good for hills, but now it's summer it's a bit more challenging to find soft going so a lot of the training sessions are courtesy of local racehorse trainers.

“As well as riding I run two to three times a week and have a session with a personal trainer once a week.”

Rubyn was bred by Lesley Dunn at Warrens Hill Arabians near Monmouth and was given to Sarah and her sister Rachael for their 18th birthday. The athletic 15.2 grey Arab started his international career in 2014 in France and after a year out, Sarah began focussing him on the 2019 Europeans.

“As well as being athletic and strong, I think it's his personality that makes Rubyn stand out. He loves himself and he loves his sport. He has that rare balance of drive and heart, but total (almost) professional attitude. Some days at home I have to take a deep breath before getting on, but at a race he knows exactly what to do.”

Rubyn only has one eye after an accident as a younger but this doesn’t detract from his performance.

Sarah explains: “It doesn't seem to bother him, he's just had to learn to trust us that little bit more and doesn't detract too much from his pretty face.

“As a rider I like to think I am calm but confident. I like to ride a tactical race with a solid plan, but I listen to my horse and think and adjust to what's going on. It's important in a championship

that your horse trusts you to make the right decisions, there's a very fine line between perfection and failure.”

Sarah has competed over the course at Euston Park seven times and says: “Rubyn likes a flat fast course. I don't think any 160km is easy, and Euston has it's own challenges with some deceptively tough sections.

“I plan to start slowly and get everything working before I let him go at cruising speed. I'll reassess throughout the day, but my job is to preserve his energy in the first part of the ride and let him dictate more towards the end. The key element will be the additional buzz at the venue which the horses pick up on. I just need to keep a level head and stick to my game plan.

“I genuinely think we have a chance of a team medal. There are some very strong and consistent combinations in the squad.

“A team medal is about being as accurate and precise as possible, we've all done the hard work so it's about avoiding silly mistakes and not having regrets about things that could have been different.”

Sarah’s crew at the Championships will be her sister, Rachael Cratchley, mother, Mary Stubbs, father, Steve Rogerson, best friend Rose Yates and fellow rider Nikki Malcolm.

Abergavenny-based vet Georgina Vaughan of the Abbey Equine Clinic has joined the Endurance GB International Management Team as British Team Vet for the Championships following in the footsteps of former practice partner Rod Fisher who was Team Vet to the British Endurance Team before moving on to look after the successful British Paralympic dressage team.

This is the first FEI European Endurance Championship to be held in the UK since the 1993 Championships at Southwell in Nottinghamshire, where Britain won both team and individual gold medals. The Championship is part of the HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum UK Endurance Festival (15th-19th August 2019). The event, which also features the Pony Club National Championships, and an FEI CEIO2* 120km Nations Cup competition as well as national rides is organised by the HPower Group and sponsored by Meydan. The event is expected to attract riders from around 40 countries with more than 600 horses taking part over the four days.

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Well done Mary and Sachiya. Leading rider winner in the 120 at Haywood Oaks 😀

Endurance GB > Rides > Championships > The Leading Rider Award Competitive Long Distance Horse Riding

News just in that Mary and Indy have won the 80k national CER at Royalties!

Well, we've never had a joint king and queen of the stables before. Last year we had a 3rd in Red Dragon and a 1st in Little Dragon which we were rather pleased with.
This year after some indecision we took the plunge and entered Rubyn and Tarkah in the big one, which was also the National Championships.
Considering Tarkah has already come 3rd in Red Dragon and also won the Cairngorms, we were pretty confident in her fitness. Rubyn has had a good year, but this was a step above anything he had done before. We decided as we were heading to the start to ride together, instead of splitting up, this meant we had to go Rubyn speed. I had done some research on completion speeds and decided to aim for 12kph which should have us finishing in the middle of the pack.

Plan A ended up with us in last place going up "the hill". From that point we remained pretty much in last place for the rest of the day, we weren't completely alone on the hills in the rain, but it was very nice and a good sanity check to be riding together. We did have a bit of a worry when Tarkah had to trot three times at vg2. You know with that bunch of vets if they see something then you should listen, and she wasn't quite herself. Fortunately she passed and we decided to continue steadily as we were before and see if she improved or got worse.

At the start of day 2 we were obviously quite worried about Tarkah passing the trot up, but she passed. We set off at 8:29, so almost an hour after the leaders. Nikki set off just after us at the cut off of 8:30 and soon caught us up. Despite making up time at the end of day 1 we were still at the back! We caught Andrea up near the top of the hill and Charlotte on the way up the next hill. The four of us, plus a graded rider stayed together until nearly the first vetgate where we had to pull back because Rubyn was getting too excited in a group and not listening - it was extremely slippery by this point. We left the vg as a group again. Rubyn presents very quickly, Tarkah normally takes a while but she relaxed much quicker than normal with with her best friend next to her - she was back to getting As for trot now too. Nikki quickly caught up the group and we continued.

By the first crew point Rubyn was getting silly in the group again, and also managed to lose a boot. It took a couple of minutes for him to calm down enough for mum to leg me back up. We passed Ginny who was having a shoe replaced at the crew point but she soon came back past us. We were at the back again! We caught the group, and then fortunately for Rubyn we waited while Nikki changed her stirrups and set off again the three of us. Next time we saw the group ahead of us, there was an extra bay horse - Helen. So, after about 140km all of us apart from Lauren (who was about 20mins ahead) were together coming into the final vetgate.

Rubyn and Tarkah presented quickly with lots of As and 1s. At this point we realised we had a chance of placing, so let the pair of them canter out on to the final loop. We gain a lead up the road and managed to hold it across the rutty ground, hopped off and ran down to Aberedw and were pleased to find we hadn't been caught. We were now reasonably sure we could keep our place. After a quick drink for horses and riders we continued, with a close eye behind us. We made it to the top of the hill, still no-one behind us when we spotted Lauren. Lauren spotted us and made incredible time back home across the top. We decided to settle for 2nd and 3rd at that point, Czarko is an incredible horse and was already cantering off at the bottom by the time we reached the steep down.

We are so incredible proud of our special pair, who so keenly travelled 160km together. Plan A of Rubyn speed seemed to work out pretty well. To top it off Tarkah got best condition. We are often asked what we would do in a racing finish together, and it was a delight to be in that position for the first time that I can remember. We finished cantering over the line with Rubyn's nose slightly in front with big smiles on all four faces, as we had been for the last two days. Rubyn has certainly proved himself, and Tarkah has now completed 3/3 160s, with 2 best conditions.

The adventure begins... more pictures and updates to follow

A small selection of Steve Rogerson's photos from the day.

Warrens Hill Rubyn and Sarah completed the 120km FEI 2* at 15.45kph. Rubyn stepped up to his biggest challenge yet with a great attitude.

It was great to be part of such a special event, the Queen certainly knows how to throw a party! It was a lovely atmosphere and we definitely hope to come again next year.

This weekend was Indy's turn for a party. 80k graded with Mary, his first ride of the season, and he did really well completing with a grade 3.

Great day at Kings Forest. Both Sachiya and and Tarkah completed and performed better than we could have hoped, not sure on official speeds but around 15kph for both of them. Sachiya attempted her first 80 FEI 1* and completed with As and 1s all day with plenty left in the tank. Tarkah completed her 3rd FEI 2* she, like Sachiya, was full of beans and had As and 1s at the end. Thanks so much to Shanti Roos, Sarah Rogerson and Steve Rogerson for the expert crewing!!