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Laura Adire Interview with Daniel Fowler-Prime National Horse Boarding Champion 2009.
Laura - So Daniel How do you feel about being this years Champion?
Daniel- I’m over the moon in one respect but underwhelmed in another.
Laura – Why.
Daniel – Well it was our intention to win or at least do our best trying but there where supposed to be four competitions not three. I would have been happier winning or losing at the planned final as it is it kind of took the shine off it a little.
Laura - You must still be happy with in the three events you where most consistent not only in being there but on the lanes as well.
Daniel – I am happy and proud of what we manage to achieve in the sport. But you know you have to be in it to win it and you cant win if you don’t get off the start line.
Laura – what was the most important tactic you used this season.
Daniel – Hanging on to my horse. I don’t know, a fast start is an important factor and I know I had some very fast starts. A few in Middlesex and a lot at the Nass Competition. For me learning to hang on when your rider hits you with the horse or rope and use that as acceleration probably scored me a few points I other wise would have lost.
Laura – Just for people who don’t race or know much about the sport explain what you mean when you say getting hit by the rope or horse.
Daniel – Oh well it means pretty much the same thing. It happens when you are in the start box, sometimes you get a bit of slack in the rope just as the horse rider gets the go. As the horse takes up the slack there is no contact between you and the horse and when there is the horse is already moving fast so he hits the rope which goes tight and hits the board rider. If you can have this happen and keep your board. Its got to help.
Laura – You Mentioned your rider. You had a different rider for each event this year , why was that?
Daniel – Well manly availability of riders people have commitments. I would have much preferred to have one rider for the season but that was not to be.
Laura – Do you think this was a handicap?
Daniel – Yeah a bit. Look at teams like wild feast and Hilton Horses who managed to keep for two comps at least the same riders horse and Boarders together and Both won comps.
Laura – If we can I'd like to find out what you thought of the season, comp by comp. so what did you think about Harefield as a whole and how you did?
Daniel – Harefield was the first ever solely horse boarding event and over all I loved it. The run was a bit short but we had some amazing races and crashes. What I didn’t like was the last minuet change to the rules to reduce the knock out faze of the competition to two runs. We made one mistake and ended up third. We would have done better but for that.
Laura – What about Middlesex?
Daniel – That was a fantastic weekend of racing with some big races between us and the feasty boys. Which as you know came down to a four race average with a difference of 0.13 seconds . I never imagined it would get that close. The thing is though I think we could have won that but on a number of occasions once it was clear we were going to win a particular race I asked my rider to back off to save the horse so our average time fell but to be fare I never thought it would come down to that.
Laura – And Nass?
Daniel – Well Nass is an event I have personally wanted to go to for a while and it was great to go there with Horse boarding. However the field was restricted with the loss of Sam from the feasty boys and Anakin from Hilton Horses, a lot of big races where lost. Also it was a real pain in the ass having to take the horses off site every night. However on the day I had another new rider who made a few mistakes but they didn’t make any difference we just could not catch Tosca, Arran and Charlie. Who where last years speed over water champions. They had a nearly perfect day. I would have liked to have beaten them even just on points at the final.
Laura—So what is in the future for Horse Boarding?
Daniel – More competitions next year. The sport is growing people see how easy it is to start and how different the atmosphere is at our events. It very relaxed and cool which are two things that don’t normally go together with horses.
Laura— Congratulations Daniel You are 2009 National Horse boarding Champion.
Daniel --- Thanks Laura see you next year.
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