Watton endurance rider wins gold rosette
Carol Chapman's horse Prince poses with his rosettes - Credit: Archant
Watton endurance rider Carol Chapman is back from her adventures at the Home International event in Scotland with a gold rosette – the equivalent of a UK grade one – and a second place prize from the biggest event of her life.
Carol travelled the long distance from her Norfolk home to Yetholm in Scotland with her 10-year-old Arab Silver Prince Sadik to compete in the challenging ride.
“We got there on the Thursday in torrential rain to find severe flooding on the roads and both fields at the event looked like lakes,” she said.
“When Friday arrived it was very windy, but Prince was relaxed and a perfect gent in his stable until I got him out for the trot up and just before I was supposed to run he trod on my foot and really bruised it so I had to get someone else to trot him up for me.
“Then I took him out for a little hack with some other people and he was so naughty – it was unbelievable. But the Saturday arrived and he was on his best behaviour. He was absolutely wonderful galloping up the hills – and they were phenomenal hills.
“The winds were gale force and at times I thought I was going to get blown off, but the horses took no notice of the wind.”
Carol and Prince finished with a gold rosette, which is the highest placing. Although she wasn’t in the winning England team she was overjoyed to be in the reserve team and to pick up second place.
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“I was absolutely thrilled as it was my first time there and I didn’t know what to expect. Everyone was friendly and helpful and I made some super new friends,” she added.
