Our season got off to a great start, with virtually all our runners in the first three weeks finishing in the Top 10. I am thrilled with how the horses are feeling and looking and I can’t emphasise enough how much credit must go to my sponsors, owners and team without who none of this would ever be possible.
Zoe Feeney’s Just Soda No Ice and Caja 20 kick started the season well both finishing second in their ON sections. Just Soda No Ice then went on to give us our first winner of the season finishing on her dressage score in the ON a week later at Lincolnshire.
And then it was on to Great Witchingham, where it was a another double of seconds - Lawrence and Anne Marshall's Cock a Doodle Doo (aka Paul) was having his first run of the season and jumped a lovely double clear to finish second. Jamie and Katie Davenport’s Light the Fuse jumped another double clear to finish a close second too. The Sandpiper Syndicate’s Last Hope 10 then gave us our second winner of the season, while Anne and Lawrence Marshall Joy Rider HX made his eventing debut showing what an exciting horse he is for the future.
Th young horses are all progressing well at home. Isobel Crosbie’s Morgund had a very educational day out at the lovely Burghley Hunter trials ahead of his first event at Norton Disney.
Then we finished off a packed March at Thoresby where Paul gave me a great spin to finish 4th in the Open Intermediate.
April looks set to be a busy month with Burnham Market followed by the first international in Ballindenisk.
https://www.britisheventing.com/about/people-and-horses/find-people/Willa-Newton/results
After a year of rebuilding we are hugely excited for the 2022 season and I am very much hoping to return to 5* level again.
Cock a doodle Doo stepped up to advanced well this season and will look towards a Spring four star long and then hopefully a five star campaign in the autumn.
We are also very much looking forward to campaigning Jamie and Katie Davenports Freckleton Mythago again and, now we have our four star long qualification, a first five star is very much in our sights too.
As well as those two horses at advanced level, I am also aiming to return to Blenheim for the 8/9 year old class with some very talented 9 year olds.
I have also been busy sourcing young horses since the end of the eventing season. So, it’s a busy winter ahead with lots of training and a very exciting string of horses to look forward to.
I am so grateful to all of my owners and syndicate members who have made this possible and I can’t wait to see what excitements 2022 has in store.
Believe it or not, my first website was well over 5 years old and much in need of a refresh. So, I am pleased to introduce our new website at www.willanewtoneventing.co.uk. Please do take a look. We’ve updated our logo too. I hope you like it.
As event riders we are all running competing businesses and I’ve come to realise how important it is to get my brand out there and make sure it reflects the values of our team.
I owe a big thank you to Nico Morgan www.nicomorgan.co.uk
who has put the website together for me and to Patrick Latham of Seahorse Graphic design on Instagram for the logo.
Running through a few of our graduates from Willa Newton Eventing in 2021.
I have always enjoyed spotting and bringing on equine talent and, this year, we’ve not only had a busy season competing, but I have also sold a couple of horses.
This season we have sadly said good bye to:
It has also been great following other Willa Newton Eventing graduates and seeing them going so well too:
I wish them all every success in the future.
Having recovered from my pelvis injury in 2020 and with all the lockdowns of that year, I was determined to hit the ground running for the 2021 eventing season and I am delighted to report that
75% of our 100 plus runners finished in the Top 20 across the levels from BE100 to 4*.
Our highlights included:
We have definitely made the most of a difficult season with plenty of uncertainty due to Covid. Brexit has also posed its challenges, but we have not been defeated and Millstreet was a particular highlight. I have tried to make the most of the season, rebuilding a team of horses who I have very high hopes of and hopefully next year we will have several horses competing at advanced level.
Photo courtesy of Bit-Media.
Willa has hit the ground running for the 2021 eventing season after her recovery from a serious injury to her pelvis in 2020.
80% of her 80 plus runners have finished in the Top 20 across the levels from BE100 to 4*.
The highlight so far was a double at the Alnwick Ford International at the end of June taking the 3* with Cock a Doodle Doo and the 2* with Light the Fuse.
Willa’s and Anne Marshall’s Cock A Doodle Doo is a nine-year-old by Clarimo whom she bought in Germany as a three-year-old. She was lying second after dressage on a score of 26.4 and overtook the leader Alex Hua Tian on the strength of a faster time cross-country.
Willa rode Katie and Jamie Davenport’s homebred mare Light The Fuse to victory in the CCI2*-S. Fourth after dressage with a mark of 29.4, the pair added nothing to that score to vault up the leaderboard.
Willa said: “I had a great weekend – it was my first time at Alnwick Ford, but I’ll definitely be back! Cock A Doodle Doo was super - he’s very exciting. It was a good cross-country course for him; there were lots of different questions and the going was great. He had a few spooky moments in the dressage, but I was pleased with him and his jumping phases were spot-on.”
This was a first international victory for eight-year-old Light The Fuse at just her second attempt at the level.
Owner Jamie Davenport said: “For someone called Light The Fuse, she’s been a slow burner - she was quite a slow starter, but she’s really come into her own in the past year. Willa is doing an amazing job with her and we’re so thrilled.”
https://www.britisheventing.com/about/people-and-horses/find-people/Willa-Newton/results
Photo courtesy of: Lottie Elizabeth Photography
Willa made a winning return to the saddle at Oasby at the end of October, only 4 months after inuring her pelvis whilst cross country schooling in the Summer. She took Oasby’s Open Novice class on Cock a Doodle Doo and is already looking forward to next season.
“What a weekend, having a win in my first event back, and the last of the season. It was brilliant to be back out eventing. I can’t thank everyone enough for making this possible, from my incredibly supportive and patient owners, my AMAZING team at home, the team at the Injured Jockeys Fund, Jack Berry House, my sponsors and everyone who has kept the horses going for me this summer,” comments Willa.
“It’s definitely been a tough year and a long road to recovery but it’s brilliant to be back riding some lovely horses. Roll on 2021”, ends Willa.
Following a pelvis injury in a cross country schooling fall earlier this Summer, Willa has been determined to keep the yard going and stay positive through her recovery, ready to bounce back as soon as she can.
Says Willa: “I am lucky that I have been able to go up to Jack Berry House. I started the second week after I came out of hospital and have been going once a week. The team there have been fantastic and it has been great to have something to focus on. It also means that I can work on my fitness at the same time as strength and conditioning, so I am in the best possible shape when I eventually return to the saddle.
“My latest x-rays showed that I am making good progress, the bones are healing well and I am on track with my recovery and objective to return to competition by the end of the year,” ends Willa.
