Kirriemuir Horse Trials celebrates 20th anniversary of popular Angus event

Wills Oakden wins top class as Scottish riders start their eventing season

ON MARCH 12th, the 20th anniversary of Kirriemuir Horse Trials at Auchlishie Eventing, Angus, was celebrated, and despite challenging weather conditions the popular event was still smoothly run by its experienced team, where top Scottish eventer Wills Oakden took first place in the Novice class with Cooley Cormint finishing on his dressage score of 29.

Organiser James Helyer and his wife Nicky, who deals with much of the sdmin, set up the BE affiliated event after a few years of running pony club hunter trials at their farm when their children were riding in pony classes.

From a basic hunter trials event run alongside some farming, they have developed the business and diversified from farming to creating Auchlishie Eventing, a livery yard, cross-country course hire and venue for clincs and training.

In recent years, the investment in the equestrian business has increased significantly to see them add on The Barnhouse which has accommodation for camps and horsey holiday makers bringing their own equines to the venue.

Now a cafe has been created, and this will open to the public shortly, and the site is also popular for a range of events and weddings.

But last month it was back to its roots for Auchlishie as the Kirriemuir Horse Trials is the first of the Scottish events and has run every year without fail despite floods and storms, helping Scottish riders get their season off to a flying start.

A few changes were made to the course this year by James, and course builder Andrew Hunter, who was part of the team who created the cross-country for the London Olympics. They decided to change where the course ran and it took place on the flattest part of the farm, removing the hilly sections used in previous years.

James said: "We came here in 1989 and after a few years of farming we started running hunter trials for Angus Pony Club, we were asked 25 years ago by BE to get involved and Iain Graham helped us as we were not in a postition to do BE at first, we built up our experience and we had what was a Novice and Pre-Novice then.

"Now there have been a lot of big investments with the livery, the Barnhouse, now the cafe. We are a one-stop for it all, we have our own showjumps, dressage markers, judges' huts and commentator's hut. We own everything, but we used to have to bring it in and spend days getting equipment - we used to borrow flags and numbers and the showjumps came in on a lorry - but now we have it all here.

"I came from Hampshire and the children had ponies and my daughter and wife went to Halliburton for cross-country training and came back and said how do I jump this, so we built it for her. It all came from there."

The changes in the sport means that Kirriemuir now has classes ranging from BE80 to Open Novice and James commented that one competitor had even used her social media to give a run-down of her build-up to the event, creating posts charting how she was preparing.

James and Andrew Hunter re-built the course to make it more "free-flowing" this year. He added: "Wills came in at the end and said the changes meant he could run all five horses and said it was a refershing and open track. We were astounded and pleased and he didn't have to come and tell us that.

"It was a trying course with the weather as we had 19mm of rain on Friday night then heavy rain between 8pm and 10pm on Saturday night. For 20 years it has always been held on the same weekend and we have never missed one, we have had snow and floods - we have had everything chucked at us!"

James and his team are now preparing to organise Brechin Horse Trials at Brechin Castle in May but will still be working on changes and improvements for Kirriemuir next year.

"We will be working on modifications, you have to do it while it's all fresh in your mind. The course has been a success and even the vet here said it's an improvement as the less fit horses are still capable of doing it quite happily and they can do that because we are not using the hills."

James had a number of local sponsors, including Perth Racecourse, with the main sponsor of Stonepack and also Kirriemuir Autosales providing cars for the event.

"We are very lucky and our main sponsors Anna and Hayden Thomas of Stonepack do everything possible to help us - they are very generous."

Wills and Cormint take the Novice honours

Wills Oakden, took five horses to Kirriemuir, he won the Novice with Cooley Cormint, and took second place in the class riding Cooley One More Time, the BE100 Open with Greystone Midnight Harmony and the BE100 with Cooley Jackpot.

He said: "I was really happy to be there as we missed it last season as it clashed with a fixture down south but they have corrected the calendar now. I really enjoy riding at Kirriemuir, it is good, safe ground.

"Although they were unlucky it was wet, the horses don't really mind the mud as there is a base underneath and they don't lose confidence - it is very consistent ground and the organisers did a fantastic job to keep the show on the road.

"We are very gratefull they ran it. They changed the course and I found it rode really well and when the new field beds in for the future it is going to be great ground. The horses really enjoyed it and they gained a lot from it.

"It let me learn a lot about them, going in the water and up the hill, it is a good way to see what you have for the future. They all gained a lot of experience and confidence from being there."

Wills then took Cooley Cormint to his next event at Burnham Market where they won the Intermediate, and he cited the preparation run at Kirriemuir as an ideal event which "let him step up a bit" to the next level.

"We do four events in England before we do our first one in Scotland and I really enjoy being on the Scottish circuit, it's really important to support your local events," said Wills.

During May, he will compete with a number of horses at Forgandenny, Perthshire, on 2nd and 3rd May and is entered for Badminton Horse Trials with Keep It Cooley, who won the CCI4*-L at the last Blair Castle in 2024, the Advanced at Thoresby 2025 and 2nd and 3rd at the two Burgham events last year.

"He is there or thereabouts going to one of these five stars but it is a big step and he has to be on top form," said Wills.

Aberdeenshire riders placed

Meanwhile, Aberdeenshire based Caitlin Padfield was placed with a number of rides at Kirriemuir - 3rd with Mr. Brown Van Vonderschotten in the Novice and 6th with Frances Johnstone's Diamondgraaf Reign Dance.

Pony Club combination Aaliyah Watson and Connemara Killaneen George also took 2nd in the BE90 at Kirriemuir as part of their preparation for the Badmintion Grass Roots competiton later this month, held alongside Badminton Horse Trials.

Sponsors of Kirriemuir Horse Trials were:

Stonepack Aggregates, Autosales Kirriemuir, Perth Racecourse, Thrums Vets, Parkside Equine, Conchie Saddlery, C&G Brewster, |Glencadam Scotch Whisky, Davidsons Farm and Country Kidd Veterinary Centre, Johnston Carmichael and the Dickinson family.

The results are:

BE 90 Autosales, Section A: 1st Scout MacGillivray (Glandoran Morning News) 29.3; 2nd Felicity Cromarty (Carrickadawson Queeney) 32.8; 3rd Erin Forrest (Carbally 100) 32.8; 4th Maddie McGregor (Kilshrewley Lady) 32.4; 5th Arabella Tennant (Goldengrove Royal Wedding) 34.8; 6th Susannah Cavendish (Clayhill Shady) 35.

Section B: 1st Charlie Hague (Gurteen Tonto) 29.7; 2nd Aaliyah Watson (Killaneen George) 30; 3rd Vanessa Hamilton (Trenouth) 34.5; 4th Erin Rumsey (Heart Of A Rockstar) 35.8; 5th Scout MacGillivray (Bartholomew II) 36.5; 6th Laura Patterson (Cruising Native Lass) 36.5.

Section C: 1st Sara Bryans (Half A Chuckle) 29.8; 2nd Claire Johnstone (Hanleen Armani) 30.5; 3rd Alice Mccarthy (Fudge) 32; 4th Savannah Gordon (Rainbows Little Rock) 32; 5th Chloe Milne (Martell HBF) 32.5; 6th Amanda Waugh (Ballybay Don) 32.7.

BE 90 Open Autosales, Section D: 1st Eilidh Costelloe (THL After Eight) 31; 2nd Tamsin Petrie (Lovett) 35; 3rd Isla Thomson (Cornsay Invincible) 38.3; 4th Holly Wilkinson (Ardeo Fun Size) 38.7; 5th Rachel Williamson (Dylasau Dewi Gwyn) 73.2; 6th Daniel Scott (Hanleen Lady Lou) 74.7.

BE 100 Perth Racecourse Section E: 1st Douglas Crawford (Ballykilcross Fox Rebel) 31.5; 2nd James Houlden (Polly's Britannia) 35.4; 3rd Sean Henderson (Barely Legal) 36.5; 4th Shannon -Louise MacLean (Tullibardine Sgian Dubh) 36.8; 5th Susan Dykes (Drumlane Grace) 36; 6th Sean Henderson (Ardfort MBF Avatar) 38.

Section F: 1st Wills Oakden (Cooley Jackpot) 25.7; 2nd Zurie Dempster (Carraiganard Obie) 29.3; 3rd Douglas Crawford (Omard Vivian) 33; 4th Lyndsay Stewart (Archdale Cavalier) 35.3; 5th Alison Newton (Locarno Little Ted) 37.5; 6th Cameron Swales (Olievi-Alve D.V.) 38.6

BE 100 Open Section G: 1st Wills Oakden (Greystone Midnight Harmony) 25.5; 2nd Stephanie Johnson (Glasker Happy Hour) 34; 3rd Coco Oakes (Star of Hollymount) 34.9; 4th Daniel Scott (Easy X) 35.8: 5th Stephanie Lynch (Journeys Atlas) 36.8; 6th Amelia McFadyen (Hitstar) 43.9.

Novice Stonepack Section H: 1st Wills Oakden (Cooley Cormint) 29; 2nd Wills Oakden (Cooley One More Time) 32.9; 3rd Caitlin Padfield (Mr. Brown Van Vonderschotten) 38.6; 4th Gemma Kennedy (Sierra) 41.9; 5th Olivia Wilmot (Warren Finding Dory) 43.8; 6th Caitlin Padfield (Diamondgraaf Reign Dance) 43.8.

Open Novice Stonepack Section I: 1st Cameron Swales (Millies Law) 42.8; 2nd Alba Mclean (Lissyegan Mikie Lou) 74.2; 3rd Sasha Brunton (Rohdiamant Von Cassini) 92.1.

BE 80 Johnston Carmichael Section J: 1st Emma Fletcher (Strike It Lucky) 28.3; 2nd Iona Campbell (Hotshott) 28.8; 3rd Blythe Ewert (Ballyell Parchwork) 30; 4th Chiara Clark (Aghamore Princess) 33.2; 5th Rose Willis Fleming (Gregclare Leo) 33.7; 6th Carole Stewart (Fitzwilliam)34.4.

Section K: 1st Sophie Robertson (Bella Maye) 36.9; 2nd Jennifer Morris (Karl Van De Wilde Velden) 37.3; 3rd Nicola Barrett (East of Eden) 38; 4th Kathleen Connor (Air Row Z) 38.4; 5th Alison Wild (Cookie Bain) 38.5; 6th Barry MacLennan (Parliament) 39.5.