BHS Instructors Challenge

2009 saw the launch of a new competition for BHS Registered Instructors which is set to run again in 2010 with a new sponsor, Martin Collins Enterprises. The Instructors Challenge is a combined training competition open to all BHS Registered Instructors. There will be a qualifier held in each region with the winner going forward to the final at Royal Windsor Horse Show. Finalists will compete against each other for the change to win the £800 first prize.

The competition is run according to British Dressage Combined Training rules at Novice Level. Competitors cannot have ridden internationally within the last ten years and must be on the BHS Register of Instructors. Competitors complete both a dressage test and jumping course.

The 2009 Carey Arms ‘Instructors Challenge’ Champion was Helen Barton-Smith of Pippin Equestrian Ltd, Dorset riding Pippin Jazz, an eleven-year-old Shire X Thoroughbred owned by her mother.

Helen was thrilled to have had the opportunity to compete at Royal Windsor.
She said: “It was particularly significant for me as when I was a child my grandmother lived in Eton and every year she would take me to the show on the Saturday night. She always used to say to me one day you will ride here and to have actually done it and won is just fantastic. My father was in floods of tears!

“For people like me who fit competing in when they can around their business, the opportunity to compete at a big show was amazing. It was fantastic for the children we teach as well – I had a string of children with me yesterday and they have come back buzzing about riding which is great.”

Qualifying dates for the 2010 are on the website now including the individual contact details for each day.

The BHS Training Department would like to wish all our instructors who enter the very best of luck.