Selection day

Here is a link to: How I ended up going to this selection day.

After recent dramas with my alarm clock refusing to work I made sure there were two of them on this morning so I didn't oversleep my train time. Got up well on time only to find out (through Journey Planner website which is a life saver of mine) that the tube was experiencing delays (again).
Spent good few minutes soaking my face in ice-cold water to wake up properly, put my riding stuff on, grabbed my bag and off I went to catch a train to Sutton from London Victoria.
Victoria station welcomed me with Katie Price's face cuddled into horse's neck and beaming from massive The Times billboards - she certainly knows how to attract publicity! I really don't think I have ever seen a horse (maybe other than Lloyd's bank's one) on any billboard in London - Katie goes to HOYS and here we go!

Anyway, I digress. I got to one of those Fast Tickets machines only to find out there were about 5 different Sutton stations - great. Phoned the person who was to pick me up and after establishing the correct Sutton off I went.

The selection day took place in a charming place called Orchard Cottage Riding Centre - lovely yard. There were 13 of us short-listed for the Hendelah Waley Equestrian Fund and we met in order to have our riding skills assessed and to be interviewed by a panel of people from the industry.
Riding section took place in a lovely, warm indoor school with BIG mirrors. It was all quite relaxing and I really enjoyed the experience.
Then onto the interviews. I felt mine went well although if I had a second chance I would probably have said more of what I wanted to say.
We all went one by one so it lasted a couple of hours!

Here are a few pictures I took while awaiting decision of the fund.

Rosie - the horse I rode - very sweet mare

Painting in the office showing artist's impression of the stables

Some old photographs on office walls

After a long, long wait we were all told the results. The panel decided to split the fund and chose 5 of us to receive the grants - I was one of the lucky ones!
Lady who ran the day then took some pictures to be sent to Horse & Hound.
The way it works means that none of us got the money in hand, we now have to decide who we would like to train with and the Fund sends the money to our chosen trainer.

I am going to email Kyra Kyrklund to see if she would take me on for a few days of training! If not, I have two more options on my mind.

What a fab day and what a pleasure to meet people who really want to help you! :)