HAVING BEEN widely recognised throughout central and west of Scotland as a training venue, Greenfields of Avondale has made the step up to running a British Eventing horse trial.

Named Drumclog, it will be held on August 21, on the outskirts of Strathaven, South Lanarkshire at Greenfields of Avondale Farm owned by David and Nesta Gilliland. They diversified from farming to set up a training and livery yard and, having run jumpcross and their own hunter trials at their farm, they were recommended by Iain Graham, (former BE regional director for Scotland), Jeanette Brakewell (who uses the facilities for teaching) and Fiona Muirhead, to hold an event. The event will be hosting BE90, BE100, BE100 open plus a BE80 training class.

David is a course builders bronze level candidate has previously helped to build at Thirlestane, gaining experience and laterly Oatridge for the last few years. Fiona Muirhead is the course designer and Douglas Weymouth will be technical adviser.

The course is set in 200 acres of farmland and starts off on the flat near the farm. The terrain rises and includes a large wooded area, three sets of water, including a brand new water complex – which includes eight different approaches. The ground is sand based, which is free draining and even in heavy rain does not become waterlogged.

“Since Greenfields started as a training facility, many of our fences were already suitable for the BE80(T) course which is a very important class to encourage riders into the sport,” explained Nesta.

“We have a mixture of permament and portable fences, as we were primarily a training venue. The beauty of portable fences are that they can be easily moved with a forklift into a new place and the fence can become easier or more difficult depending on the terrain,” added David.

“We’re still holding jumpcross competitions – it gives rider the thrill of cross country without the worry of solid fences, both novice and experienced horses can benefit from it,” points out Nesta.

“There’s been an enormous amount of work, we’ve put together an organising committee and we’ve had lots of volunteers, although there’s still space for more. It’s been a huge investment of time and money from us but we want everyone to finish with a smile on their face,” added Nesta.