The British Riding Club and SEIB, equestrian Insurance Brokers, 2016 Quadrille Selection Trials took place at Bury Farm Equestrian Village in Buckinghamshire on Saturday 1 October
The annual event entertained a packed crowd with 11 participating Quadrille teams, all displaying their costumes, music floor plans and chorography. This year’s imaginative themes included Camelot, Bollywood, Ghostbusters, Sailors, Alice in Wonderland to name just a few. The judges included; Gaynor Colbourn, session musician, composer and Grand Prix Rider, Donald Kear, BHSI and List 2 Dressage Judge and Lindsay Jenkins, List 1 Dressage Judge.
A very special mention must go to Deen City Farm BRC Centre, who has qualified this year; this is an incredible achievement for the four riders who all take part on riding school horses from this BHS Approved Riding School, an inner city charity run riding school based in Wimbledon, London. They will be joined by seasoned quadrille campaigners Saffron Walden & District RC, Cornwall TREC Group and Witheridge RC.
Joanna Henbry, from Deen City Farm BRC Centre said; “After two previous unsuccessful attempts at selection, our Bollywood theme was conceived on our late evening drive home from the event in 2015. We just tried to come up with brightest, theatrical idea we could think of. Practicing has been incredibly difficult to fit in around the riding school commitments of the horses and ponies, but they have behaved impeccably and taken everything in their stride. I can’t believe that we were only 0.5 of a mark away from first place.”
Judge, Gaynor Colbourn said; “To be asked to judge the SEIB Quadrille Selection Trial was both very exciting and an honor for me. I was incredibly impressed by the costumes, stories and the music each Riding Club had created, and knows that the dedication these teams put into their Quadrilles was outstanding.”
The four teams that have been selected to take part in the final at Bury Farm Equestrian Village on Saturday 22 October at the All Stars Gala are:
Saffron Walden & District RC – A Life on the Ocean Wave
Deen City Farm BRC Centre – Bollywood Dreams
Cornwall TREC Group – Spamalot
Witheridge RC – The Magnificent Four Goes West To Dance The Do-Si-Doe
