Riding – The Orbital

2Jun

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Sports & Socs

Horses for Courses

RHUL Riding Club is one of the fastest growing clubs at university. We run weekly riding lessons for all abilities, from complete beginners to experienced riders. For those wishing to have the chance to compete, we have 3 competitive teams which compete in BUCS leagues 4 times a year. In the past, we've had some real successes in the BUCS league, and every outing is fun and relaxed. We train locally and organise transport to and from university for the riding lessons so transport is not an issue! But we're not all work and no play! We have a relaxed social side and this year there have been more socials than ever before, including our own themes for CIYK. The aim is to keep expanding the side of the club which allows members to see each other outside of lessons. The finale to our year i...

Riding for Britain

Over the Easter weekend at the beginning of April, I went out to Leuven in Belgium as part of Great Britain's Student Riders Team. After winning the BUCS Nationals in 2014 and being asked to attend a trials day, I was selected to ride for GB. During Student Riders competitions, you only get five minutes to get on the horse you have drawn (having never seen it before) before having to ride a dressage test or jump a course of jumps. If you gain the best score on your horse, you qualify for the next round, with there being four dressage rounds and four jumping rounds. The first dressage round is ridden as a team with three riders competing in the arena at the same time. We did a good test but one of the other girls on my horse had previously won medals competing for Ireland, knocking me into...

Four to Celebrate!

Riding: What a fantastic year it’s been, with both the A and B team enjoying great success this season. Both teams won their home competitions with the A-Team collecting one red team rosette, two yellow team rosettes and numerous individual rosettes from their away competitions. The B-Team also had great success away bringing home team rosettes in every colour and plenty of individual ones too. This included a first place rosette for Team Captain Rachel Walsh in the first competition of the season! This success resulted in Rachel, along with A-Team rider and Social Secretary Melissa Chalk, being awarded half colours. Their excellent and consistent form led the A-Team to become the first known riding team in Royal Holloway history to compete in the Regional Qualifiers. Despite competing ...