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Would you like to pay a tribute toJane?
Send
us your stories and memories.
And photographs, if you have any.
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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
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"Jane
Kendal is the sort of person without which no riding
club could survive. She has been an absolute rock to
Ardingly, doing every job from scorer to secretary. As
Area 10 secretary for more years that most of us can
remember Jane was a stalwart supporter of both the club
and Area 10 at the championships, always equipped with
a bag of rule books and sound advice. Never one to blow
her own trumpet Jane's unassuming manner conceals
a razor sharp mind.
Anyone looking for sympathy for harsh dressage marks should
probably look elsewhere because Jane still takes her riding
seriously, making no concessions to an amateur attitude.
The same principle extends to everything else she does
and as the person who inherited the club dressage competitions
I can vouch for her organisational skills. She never flaps
or panics and some her decidedly pithy comments are delivered
with a deadpan expression that conceals a very kind and
generous lady."
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She’s worked so long and so hard to help so many people
in the horsey world that many people say that everyone’s
favourite town in the Lake District, Kendal, is named after
her or if it isn’t, it should be.
“Oh no,” says Jane Kendall with a laugh. Anyway
Kendal has only one letter l. I’ve got two.”
All the same, if anyone deserves some
recognition for all her work with horses and horsey people,
it’s Jane Kendall.
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- Worked for six-years at Crabbet Park Equitation Centre in
the seventies, once the home of the world-famous Crabbet Arabian
Stud
- Member of Ardingly Riding Club (formerly East Grinstead)
for over 30 years including 18 years on the Committee
- Retired last year after a staggering 32-years as secretary
of British Riding Clubs Area 10, one of the largest areas in
the UK with over 30 Clubs in Kent, East Sussex and part of
Surrey
- A List 1 Riding Club Riding Test and Style Jumping Judge
- An examiner for Riding Club Equitation and Horse Welfare
Exams
- A British
Dressage List 3 judge
- A computer operator for International
Dressage Judges at Hickstead and Olympia
- British
Dressage Supporters Club Membership Secretary
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“Living near Hickstead” she says, “has
meant lots of opportunities to write and do the computer
operating for the International Judges, which is a great
learning experience. The highlight was probably working with
Stephen Clarke at the Europeans in 2003. I have also been
lucky enough to operate the computer for Stephen at Olympia
for the World Cup Dressage qualifier, which is also a great
privilege.”
What people don’t know, however, is how she first
started riding and how today, and over half a century later
she is still riding.
For such a riding enthusiast for so many years, amazingly
Jane didn’t come from a riding family.
“My interest in horses began on
a holiday with cousins at Seasalter in Kent age about 11.
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My cousin Jenny and I discovered a little bay pony called
Bambi giving pony rides and we both became hooked.
“As my family were not interested in horses, after
much pleading my grandmother paid for my first lessons whilst
I was at boarding school. This involved going once a week
to a Riding Stables at Banstead where we were taught to walk,
trot and canter and hacked out very sedately over Epsom Downs
“School holidays were spent with Jenny and I “helping” at
a local Riding Stable/farm (now a housing estate) called
Ballards Farm near Shirley Hills, South Croydon.
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“We next moved on to another Riding Stable, Kingswood
Lodge, at Warlingham where we joined Warlingham Pony Club,
which at that time was part of the Old Surrey & Burstow.
We were able to hire ponies for rallies and progressed
to D and C test. Much time was spent helping with mucking
out, bringing in ponies from the field, grooming etc. in
return for a free ride. Although the Riding Stable closed
early in the sixties a number of us “kids” (now
pensioners!) are still in touch and still meet for lunch
monthly.”
After leaving school as a rebellious teenager the last
thing Jane wanted to do was work in an office. Instead
of attending a secretarial course at Pitmans College, she
spent much of her time back at Ballards Farm mucking out
the ponies and taking out rides on Shirley Hills.
“There were not the same training
opportunities in the late fifties.” In 1959
I went to work at a Riding School and guest-house near
the New Forest for two years run by a strict elderly
lady called Miss Wynne.
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The hours were long. But it was
a good experience. Many of the school horses came
from a local dealer, Ralph Coakes, whose daughter, Marion
later had international and Olympic show jumping success
with Stroller.
“One potential school horse which was sent along for
trial was a very thin 4 year old, with cracked hooves, sores
under his stomach and a poor coat. He was branded OK and
had probably spent the winter on the Forest. As I only had
five horses to do at the time and the other girls had six,
I was allotted this horse, who was named Simon. He soon put
on weight and once his summer coat came through he looked
quite different and became my favourite. As I was still determined
to have a horse of my own, my grandmother purchased him for
my 18th birthday for the very expensive sum of £75!”
Simon moved with Jane to other
jobs. The first was to a very smart thoroughbred
stud in Essex. Then to a racing yard at Stockbridge, where
she was the first girl to be employed.
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“I believe the trainer thought Simon would be useful
to teach the young apprentices to ride. However, whilst he
was a very kind easy ride and would look after any child,
any apprentice who thought he knew it all was bucked off
straight away!” says Jane.
After spending a winter at an Arab stud in Sussex she decided
it was time to return home, compete and do more with Simon
which wasn’t always easy when grooming for other people.
“We moved back to Kingswood Lodge. I had to catch
up on lost secretarial time by going to evening classes.
The first office job I was offered was typing addresses on
a manual typewriter as they didn’t believe an ex-groom
was capable of much else!
“On my return home I joined the Warlingham Horse Club.
Simon turned into a useful Riding Club Horse who particularly
enjoyed jumping.
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At that time Helen Webber was on the Committee and as few people
had their own transport we shared a box to various Riding Club
Horse Trials and other team events. It was a tremendous help
to walk courses with Helen as I knew little about Eventing or
cross country in those days. Helen also gave us a lot of help
with the flat work so we were able to perform a passable dressage
though we still needed to jump a clear round in the combined
training in order to get placed! I also acquired a young Anglo
Arab mare called Castella, initially on loan but I later purchased
her and had much fun at Riding Club events with her.”
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Now began Jane’s career in horsey
administration.
“After about three years the Riding Club needed a
secretary and I was volunteered for it, a job I did for about
six years. Helen also took me along to the Area
10 Liaison Committee meetings at Tonbridge and after
several years they too needed a new secretary. I took over
at the end of 1975.
“In 1976 I decided to look for a job which combined
secretarial and horses. Helen suggested Crabbet Park as she
knew Brian Young was looking for a secretary. I spent six
years working for him which was great experience as at that
time the centre trained students from all over the world.
“Unfortunately Simon had to be put down at the age
of 21 just before I started as he pulled a tendon badly in
the field. Castella went on loan as a brood mare. Whilst
at Crabbet I acquired a five year old black New Forest/Thoroughbred
gelding called Odin who was rather a nappy character.
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Although we spent the first year hating each other we eventually
came to an agreement. He also enjoyed his show jumping although
only at a fairly novice level. I have never managed to sell
a horse so I kept Odin for 28 years. He was eventually put
down age 32 after injuring himself in the field.
“When I moved to Crabbet I joined East
Grinstead Riding Club (now Ardingly) and eventually
also became a committee member for 18 years. I continued
as Area 10 secretary until the end of 2007. I thought
32 years was enough. It was time for new ideas. Area
10 is one of the largest areas in the UK and now has
about 30 clubs, though several have formed and gone over
the years.
“I was responsible for minuting meetings and circulating
details of Area competitions, training etc. to all the Clubs
in the area. I also organised various events such as the
Horse Trials qualifier on several occasions, the London & South
East Novice Championships about five times (each of the five
areas involved take it in turn to organise it). I have written
numerous quiz questions over the years.
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“The Clubs in Area 10 have always been good in coming
forward and taking their turn to organise the many championship
qualifiers. When I first joined Warlingham the only Championship
qualifiers were Open Horse Trials, the Prix Caprilli (now Riding
Test) and an individual Dressage competition at novice level.
When we attended conferences and requested more events for the
genuine Riding Club riders we were told that “championships
were for champions”. However, much has changed over the
years and there are now qualifiers for every level of rider.”
During Jane’s period as Area 10 Secretary she worked with
several different Chairmen, firstly Dr. Geoffrey Yonge, Penny
Winstanley, Jean McClachlan Clark (Penny and Jean have sadly
now died), June Burgess and lastly Diane Baker. Janet Mason has
also been Treasurer for many years. Peter Felgate was the Area
Representative until ill health caused him to retire and Lucy
Cunliffe took over.
“I also got involved with the various Riding Club panels,
mainly through training days with Marie Stokes and became a List
1 Prix Caprilli (now Riding Test) and Equitation Jumping Judge
(now Style Jumping) and examiner for the Grade Tests and Stable
Management phases, which have now been renamed Equitation and
Horse Welfare Exams.
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“During the 1970s I first started going along to affiliated
dressage competitions as one of Helen Webber’s helpers.
It was all very different in those days – most of the
tests were on grass arenas. Helen trained several ex racehorses
from novice to advanced, including one horse to Grand Prix
so I learned a lot from watching. Later when Riding Clubs
were short of judges I was persuaded to start judging and
joined the panel. After many years of watching and training
I have now made it to List 3 and as dressage has become more
popular, I seem to spend a lot of time watching horses these
days and not enough time sitting on them.
“I no longer have a horse of my own so I try and have
a lesson at Oldencraig once a week just to keep my riding
going, and hopefully this makes me a little bit more sympathetic
to the competitors I judge as I often have the same problems!”
Jane now starts travelling the world.
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“Whilst at the Goodwood International in 1991 I was
innocently passing the British
Dressage Supporters ClubTent during the lunch break
when Desi Dillingham was on a recruitment campaign so I joined.
Joining the Supporters has enabled me to join many excellent
trips abroad, including Germany, Holland, Spain and Italy
for European and World Championships. They are great fun
as well as being an excellent opportunity to see the best
horses in the world and support our teams.
During the nineties several trips were arranged for judges
with Master Judges including Nick Williams, Stephen Clark,
Andrew Gardiner and David Trott which was a great learning
opportunity. When they were looking for a membership secretary
in 2003 as I had then retired I volunteered and am still
doing it.
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“I have been
lucky enough to travel quite a lot and have had 2 “trips
of a lifetime”, the first to the Equestrian
Olympics in Sydney, which was a fantastic experience
and a great atmosphere. I was able to break the journey
on the way out stopping in Singapore and then meeting
up with cousins who had emigrated to Melbourne in the
sixties. After the Olympics I stopped off at as many
places as possible on the way home including Hamilton
Island, New Zealand, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tahiti and Moorea.
“My second trip of a lifetime was a three months
cruise last winter called the South American Odyssey on
the Artemis, one of the smaller P&O liners. This started
and finished at Southampton and took in 34 ports in 22
countries including several Caribbean Islands, the Amazon,
Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, the Falkland Islands, the
Antarctic, Chile, Peru and the Panama Canal.”
Travelling over, Jane is now settled
down again at Balcombe, East Sussex as lively and sparky
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And full of opinions.
Riding
“If children must want to ride and learn that’s great.
If forced by ambitious parents they will probably give up.”
Health and Safety
“Usually it’s very good. But there are extremes.
Children today are not allowed to do many things that we took
for granted when I was a child.”
Competitiveness
“People are far more competitive today . “
Standards
“Standards are much higher. There are more training opportunities.”
Her favourite dressage riders
“The best in the world, probably Isabel Werth and Anky
van Grunsven, although we have some good riders including
Laura Bechtolsheimer, Emma Hindle and Carl Hester.”
If they didn’t name Kendal after her, they
should at least have named the cake after her.
“Oh, you mean the Kendal Mint Cake,” she giggles. “I
wouldn’t have minded that. It’s pretty good. |
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