About the Quadrille Team
The 2010 Team consists of Chantelle Bucknell and Disney, Kim Walker and Max, Georgina Bryce and Otto and Sarah Ebbs and If.
Quadrille is a display of horsemanship, set to music with a team of four riders wearing costume. The display need not necessarily be based on the movements of dressage. The competition takes the form of a selection trial, where four teams are selected to go forward to the final at Olympia. Quadrille is marked on costume, artistic impression and content of programme and every year the costumes become more extravagant, glitzy and detailed. Quadrille requires a lot of preparation prior to the event, including costume design, floor plan choreography, rehearsals, fund raising, and costume making.
Olympia Report
To start with I must say a huge thank you to all who helped us fulfi ll a dream by getting us to Olympia, the few who must be named Ann Bucknell for her hours of costume making, Bath riding club for their generous donation and William for the loan of the trailer. As well as our Grooms that have been helping almost every week since the beginning of 2010.
The build up to getting to Olympia was not what we had hoped for the weather had meant all schools were frozen, and fi nding a 60x20 is always diffi cult at the best of times. The final week started with Disney falling over in the field again on the Saturday luckily Nick watched here so was there to pull her back up. On the Sunday Otto overreached badly on the way in from the fi eld, the vet was called and he was only had a 50% chance of making it to Olympia the next weekend. Then the thoughts turned for a reserve horse. We needed a horse that was fully vaccinated, along with the fact they had to cope with the pressure of costumes and the atmosphere of being in the Olympia arena, luckily Anne Bevins the Vet while treating Otto offered us her son’s horse who was already FEI vaccinated. So the plans continued but then on the Tuesday a good friend who had helped a lot at Aintree and all the way through the training months, who was due to be a groom at Olympia and tow the trailer into London, fell from his horse and fractured a vertebrae in his back, wishing you a successful recovery Chris.
It is now the Thursday before we leave for Olympia on the Friday, a late night last minute practice, with Otto to start with to see how he was, he seemed ok but the test would be the next day if he was still sound the next day. Then another run through with George riding Azcan a 17hh warmblood, they both coped very well, dispite him being HUGE! But of course George would love to take Otto and if we took Azcan we would have to travel him in his lorry which would cost us an extra £400 in emission charges. Money that we would then have to do more fund-raising for.
The Friday morning we due to leave at 1300 as we were allowed into Olympia between 15:00 and 17:00, and we still not sure which horses we were taking, At 1030 I found out the plan was to take Otto, so I loaded the car with costumes and Nick went to collect the Discovery borrowed from a friend, and fi nally we left in convoy about 1330. The journey seemed to take forever but I am not used to towing anymore having had a lorry for 7 years (my lorry would also cost £400 in charges so this is why we borrowed a trailer). We fi nally arrived in London on a Friday in nearly rush hour traffi c such a strange feeling as you normally take a horse to countryside not inner city. I drove around the Olympia building with Kim behind me trying to fi nd the unloading bay of gate G, which was a very small yard and very busy I was allowed to drive in but no space for Kim so Max and IF had to be unloaded in the streets – they certainly got some odd looks from passers by leading the horses along a pavement! We then took the 4 horses straight to be vetted, which surprisingly was a lot less thorough then Area Competitions. They all passed which was great news for Otto and then to fi nd the stables, All the quadrille teams were stabled together with nice indoor heated stables, Ben Maher was stabled next door which was very exciting until he put up rugs so we could not have a nose! Then quickly to empty the vehicles, as they had to be moved to the car park that was over 2 miles away. Nick and Kim’s mum took the vehicles away and were brought back on the shuttle bus. Our horses were settled and plaited up very quickly then left to rest in their Snuggy Hood fl eeces. We all went for a walk around and had some Pizzaexpress sat on the shopping area fl oor, then watched the Puissance from the rider’s seats, which was amazing. After that we fi nished the horses and went back to the hotel. Which we were to be in for about 5hours. Everyone was tired so we quickly painted our fi ngernails glittery ready for the morning and went to bed.
The alarms went at 5am on the Saturday morning we were meeting just before 6am that is when we got the gutting news that the coach was stuck and could not make it with our supporters - what a huge disappointment. The atmosphere would have been amazing with them all there. At least all the families made it in the end with driving in the snow and making use of the train services, At this point in London we still only had the very light covering of snow that had been there from the day before. We arrived back at Olympia and it was straight on with hard work but there was only so much we could do as we were allowed to exercise the horses in the main arena at 7am, another great experience as you are exercising with all the professionals. Sarah and Kim had great fun pointing out all the famous riders. Then it was back to the stables, for more preparation of horses, glitter, tinsel, feathers…. and riders make up we had to be ready for 9.30 which was amazing that we made it as it took us all day to get ready at Aintree.
During the costumes judging the new masks were just as painful as the old ones but the pain was in a slightly different place, then we started to hear that some family and friends had beaten the weather and had arrived at Olympia, which was great news. We were last in to ride and the routine went one of the best that we had ridden it, so we came out very pleased and cantering out that tunnel was a great experience. As soon as we came out the teams were called back in for the results, We lined up in our teams and Dis would not stand still the rest was perfectly behaved, They then called the results in reverse order and called the London pearls out we all thought they had made a mistake. They then announced Charge, for a split second we thought we could win this as we new the New Forest had gone wrong, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. So chuffed with 2nd though. The rosettes are amazing and that fi nal canter out the tunnel was great too. Then for the snowy trip home, as London had the same amount as Wiltshire by this time. A great experience and thank you again to all that helped we could not of done it without you.
If quadrille is something you are interested in doing a club can enter more than one team, you will need plenty of people who are prepared for a lot of hard work and a great imagination. If there is someone out there who would like to get involved with a design or idea for costumes please contact one of us and we would be more then happy to share our experience and help out.
Aintree Selection Report
We began our preparations for this year’s quadrille selection back in March and have met at least weekly from then on. This year we were determined to qualify for the final at Olympia, having missed out during the selection the year before.
When planning the theme for this year, which after much deliberation was “Masquerade Ball”, we had to consider music that would suit the theme, costumes that would be glamorous enough to score high marks but also costumes that would be safe and comfortable for both the horse and rider.
We spent many evenings designing the floor plan with the use of Chantelle’s daughter’s brio trains as the four horses and the wooden track to mark out the arena. We also began fund raising plans as putting on a quadrille performance costs a lot of money for materials, hire of arenas, training, travel etc.
The biggest fund raiser was a dressage to music talent evening held at West Wilts Equestrian centre where riders and their routines were voted for by the public after the panel of judges had given the audience their view on the performances. This also provided us with an excellent opportunity for a dress rehearsal for both riders and horses to get used to an audience.
We left for Aintree on the 9th, October 2010 at 4am, having packed what seemed like a lot of equipment into the lorries. There was a rehearsal slot for the quadrille on the Friday afternoon so arriving in plenty of time was important to enable the horses to have recovered from the long journey and settle in before they were to be ridden. The rehearsal went really well, with very few mistakes made which put us in a positive frame of mind for the performance and judging on the Saturday evening.
On Saturday morning the team and their helpers began preparations ready for the costume judging at 6.30pm, the costume judging and turnout is very strict hence the early preparations. Once all the quadrilles were over it was a nerve racking wait for the results. Results were read out in no particular order and to our delight, Bath was the third club to be read out-as you can image we were elated. Bath Quadrille team would like to thank all of their helpers as quadrille is impossible without all the back stage help. In particular a special thank you needs to go to Ann Bucknell for the tremendous amount of hard work that was put into the costume making.
Of course, as well as a lot of teamwork, dedication and practice, there are a number of other factors to consider with a Quadrille Team. Each year we look to our sponsors for support. Whether that be through the supply of equipment, such as matching bridles and team wear, or through donations to pay for transport and other joint costs. We are so grateful to all of last year's sponsors, without whom our trip to Olympia would have remained a dream! Thank you all!
Please visit our sponsors page and support those who supported us, and if you think you may be able to help us achieve our goal next year, we look forward to hearing from you!
