ROXANNE and Bethany Shipley, two sisters from Sheriff Hutton, shared an equestrian experience and adventure of a lifetime to Pompadour, France, having both been selected to ride for Great Britain on the British Dressage teams.

Having set off on Monday at 6.30am to head for Dover, they were to meet up with three other horse boxes.

The crossing went smoothly and the convoy headed to the first overnight stop in La Touquay. Having arrived at the village of Le Touquay in darkness to discover there were two low bridges which the horse boxes could not fit under, and several detours and what seemed like hours later, they found the stables and were greeted by a young French man who could not speak English and none of the British contingents spoke French, so it was left to sign language to work out which stables had been allocated to the riders.

The convoy set off the next day at 8am as they had another long day ahead to reach their final destination at Pompadour, 12 hours later. On arrival they were overawed to see what an amazing venue it was, immaculate, lovely cool stables and an amazing setting. They unloaded the horses, who had both travelled and coped with the heat well.

The following day was a non-competitive day, so the horses had a ride in the arenas to familiarise themselves and to get used to the heat. They spent the rest of that day relaxing.

On the first day of competitions, a list is produced with trot-up time. The trot up is the worst day of an international competition because if it does not go well you do not compete. Everyone is anxious and the pressure mounts. It always seems quite a dangerous environment as well, lots of horses been walked round waiting to be called and some getting rather excited and naughty. Thankfully, all the GB riders passed trot up. Roxanne’s mount, Headmore Dream On, got quite strong in the trotting back to the vets, but generally she was quite good. Bethany’s horse, Bravoure got lively before he set off for the vet and there were a few hairy moments. Thankfully, having passed the trot up, the two riders could prepare for competition the next day.

The first day of the competition is the Team Test. Bethany and Bravoure competed first and Bethany was pleased with her test, although had a couple of costly mistakes, but for a new partnership she and Bravoure are improving every day.

Bethany said: “He is a very sensitive horse that needs lots of reassurance and needs to enjoy his competing so that he can gain confidence every time out to build on solid performances for our future years together.”

Roxanne, having completed her first test, was delighted with how Dream had performed. She said: “I knew that it was one of my best tests I had done on her, but still with a costly mistake.”

Roxanne finished second with a personal best score and only 0.05 per cent behind the leader. Bethany was pleased with her fourth place. That evening saw the sisters attend a prize giving in front of the castle overlooking the racecourse.

Saturday was the Individual Test day with Bethany the first to go of the two sisters. Bravoure was amazing and Bethany was absolutely delighted with the test, had no mistakes and felt it was their best test to date. She finished fourth.

Roxanne and Dream executed another pleasing test, but Roxanne said: “It wasn’t as good as the previous day and Dream seemed to be more affected by the flies. I made a mistake in my tempi changes, which is a costly mistake.” The pair finished fourth.

Sunday was the day for the music tests. This isn’t something the sisters have much experience of. Bethany who had been trying all week to keep Bravoure relaxed warmed up for the music, but once in the arena he was quite hot and hard to ride. They did a good test, but had a couple of mistakes through his excitement. Again, the sisters both finished fourth.

The pair are not fans of mounted prize giving but for the music it was mounted. Headmore Dream on was a star, giving Roxanne a chance to actually enjoy it. Bethany’s horse, Bravioure got excited and spent most of the time of two legs instead of four, so when the rosettes were handed out Bethany dismounted to get her prize.

Bethany and Roxanne have been selected for another international in two weeks time. The horses will have three days off to get over the trip and then a few days hacking and stretching before getting back into full training for Hickstead CDI.

The sisters said: “Overall we had the most amazing fun, our horses were amazing and are improving constantly and we couldn’t have asked for more of them.”

Bethany and Bravoure have one year left in the juniors 18 years and under, so next year her ambition with Bravoure is to be selected for the Junior European Championships. Roxanne is in her last year of Young Riders, so will now campaign Dream at Inter 1 and Inter 2 over the next few years while training her up to Grand Prix level.