5 minute read
Endeavour, endure, enjoy
Endeavour, endure, enjoy
Philippa Verry shares her story from discovering a passion for horse riding as a young child, to experiencing the thrills and enjoyment of endurance as an adult.
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Charterlands Melitta - Wessex Team - at the National Inter-Regionals, Cirencester 2022
I have always considered myself to be a very fortunate person. Being brought up by my paternal grandmother, Monica, was just perfect. I most definitely inherited her free spirit, determination and lack of willingness to always conform to convention.
She always encouraged my natural independent ways and though she said it was hard at times to watch a child struggle, she knew that letting me find my own solution to a problem would be the best way. It was Monica who arranged riding lessons for me when I
was seven years old, and that was the start of my addiction. Counting away every day, hour and minute until that Tuesday afternoon riding lesson came round again, I was incredibly lucky to be taught by the late Honourable Mrs Anne Gascoigne. She was the ideal teacher for me, always ready to try whichever method worked best, regarding all aspects of learning to ride and never mollycoddling which I would have hated.
Learning to ride aged seven with the honourable Anne Gascoigne
My first pony
Aged 11, I acquired my first pony. She was possibly not the most suitable being a four-yearold rather hot-headed strawberry roan mare, who took me about a year to master. Not just riding her but also finding independent ways of tacking her up and caring for her. I remember being very pleased with myself when I found a way of putting her crupper on. This involved putting the saddle with crupper attached on her rump, sitting on the ground, threading her tail through and then gradually shifting everything up into place before attaching the girth. I was very chuffed with that!
Melitta and Stilton - Trophies from 2022 given at the Wessex Awards Dinner
Stilton - Cerne Giant Vetting 2021
Discovering endurance
I have been lucky enough to participate in many equestrian disciplines through my life, from show jumping and one-day eventing to hunting and winning a dressage scholarship that led to training with John Lassetter for six years. However, it was in 2016 that I did my first endurance pleasure ride at the Golden Horseshoe on my homebred hunter mare Melitta. Then, in 2017 having bought Stilton as a hunter, I found myself doing more and more endurance with him, and thoroughly enjoying it. This culminated in being on the Celtic team at Red Dragon in 2019. Just for Stilton to come home happy and sound was all I hoped for, and he certainly did that, and thrilled me by winning
his class on Performance Formula. I came home totally elated and truly addicted to endurance. Since then, we have up-graded to Open level enjoying many successes. There are, of course, days that don’t go according to plan and on these occasions it’s important to try and stay positive. I feel that I learn something from every ride I do, a helpful little tip or a new and better way of tackling something, even if it’s “well I’m not going to make that mistake again!”. Perhaps one of those occasions was enduring some very strange looks at a Tesco petrol station and shop that I’d paraded around totally unaware that I was still wearing my Cirencester number bib! I wonder if the staff called the local asylum to say escapee number 10 had been spotted!
Anything is possible
The pleasure I’ve gained from endurance has been tremendous, from the lovely friends made along the way in the friendliest sport I’ve ever taken part in, to enjoying the privilege of riding in some of the country’s most beautiful areas. The relationship and bond that is built between you and your horse spending so many hours together is a very special thing that creates a deep trust and respect for you both.
Another benefit is having a qualified vet checking your horse on such a regular basis, either alerting to a problem or reassuring that all’s good to go. Last season was amazing for my two horses. Bringing Melitta into the sport at 18 while Stilton was on a break and discovering she has as much talent as Stilton was fantastic. I’m so lucky to have two such lovely horses and I can’t wait to start the 2023 season. My advice from Pleasure Ride to Advanced is, ‘go on give it a go. You don’t know what you’re capable of until you try. Feel pride in your effort whatever the outcome’.
