Para rider Erin Orford has been busy with a few international competitions – with Rio Paralympic selection firmly in mind…
“I can’t believe we are already in May – despite what the snowfalls a few weeks ago might suggest! We are recently back from the first international competition of the year with Pimms, and it was a pretty successful one at that. As I’ve been a bit useless (apologies) I’ll bring you up to speed with the year so far.
At the end of January, Nirvana Morroko made his comeback into the arena after I spent last year focusing on Pimms. I’ve been over the moon with his attitude and behaviour, and although we were both a little ring rusty, he’s showing some nice consistency and his percentages have gone up each time out. A totally different type of horse to Pimms, it’s been really good for my riding as they both have totally different strengths and weaknesses.
With Rio getting closer (eek) we have had quite a few talks covering everything from the set-up, the venue, food, accommodation, accreditation – anything you could think about has been thought of. One of the days I attended was for all of the riders on the long list for all of the equestrian teams (Olympic and Paralympic), which was conveniently located at my local gym Bisham Abbey. It was quite a powerful environment to be in with all of us working towards the same goal, whatever discipline and I think it highlighted just how lucky we are as athletes to have all of this support behind us so that we can concentrate on riding.
The two internationals in April (Deauville and Waregem) were to be used as the first phase of selection, and it was decided that the Grade 2s would go to Waregem, Belgium. I hadn’t been to Belgium since 2012 and since then they had changed venue so this was going to be a new competition for me. Last time we went abroad with Pimms things didn’t exactly go to plan and although it was right at the beginning of our journey together and she had performed brilliantly ever since, there was still a lot of pressure for us to prove that had been a one-off.
We have since had a year together and with my trainer Stephen’s help, we’ve grown as a partnership and in the lead up to the competition, I felt quite prepared and was actually looking forward to going away. The journey over isn’t too bad and Pimms arrived with the other squad horses pretty full of herself and raring to go – just how we like her! We had two training days before the competition started, with one chance to ride in the main arena. All GB horses sailed through the trot up but the commentator was a little confused when Pimms was listed as a black gelding, but he had a great sense of humour and received a lot of laughs when he announced that the horse must be transgender!
The venue was lovely, very flat and quite close together, which meant limited walking (always a bonus) and Pimms felt fab in her first walk in the main arena. She has grown so much in confidence and seems to really enjoy the big atmosphere now, which is a great feeling when you’re on top and you feel the trot get bigger but trust that she’ll stay with you.
Pimms got better each day finishing second in the team and the individual behind Paralympic Champion and fellow Brit, Natasha Baker, with 70.9% and 71.5%, before scoring 74.9% in our first debut of our new kur by Equivisions, Julie Geraghty. A huge thanks to Julie who worked incredibly hard to get this ready for us in time despite my constant last minute changes – thank you! It was a great week and lovely to have Pimms’ owner Annie and Jess, who travelled out to see her compete alongside doing a fab job on her hair and make-up! A massive thank you to trainer Stephen who was out there with us along with Mum and the amazing support Team GB support team who travelled out.
I’m really pleased we could show our consistency with three scores over 70% but there’s still plenty of work to do before our KBIS semi-finals at Wellington at the beginning of June. I also have an exciting announcement that I am now a NAF supported rider! Having used their products for a number of years I am delighted to join their team and I’d like to thank them, along with my other sponsors and supporters for joining me on this journey.
Until next time.”
Erin