ABOUT OUR CLUB

The Dartford and District Riding Club is a small, but rapidly expanding club which was formed in 1996-7, gaining affiliation to the British Riding Clubs’ movement in 1998. Its aim is to ‘promote interest in the care and welfare of horses and good horsemanship’ and membership is open to anyone of any age and ability. Our current membership stands at approximately 70 members, although our friendly, yet professionally run competitions, rallies and clinics are frequently attended by the wider local equestrian public.


The club is generally based at The Old Mill Equestrian Centre in Swanley where facilities include an indoor and an outdoor arena. Competitions held there include the very popular Dressage Series. Walk and Trot, Preliminary, Novice and Elementary tests are offered, with a points championship resulting in perpetual challenge trophies. We also run a fun gymkhana and show jumping competition at Easter and at Christmas. This includes a fancy dress competition, which is hotly contested, and we have also introduced a teams-of-three jumping competition for the past two shows.


In addition, we hold fortnightly rallies at The Old Mill with Flair Sifleet for flatwork and/or jumping. Regular clinics are also offered and some of our invited instructors have been Tim Stockdale, Charlotte Lassetter and more recently, Graham Fletcher. We try to offer affordable tuition for our members and guests at all levels.


Warrigal Farm, near Darenth/Longfield is the venue for our Spring and Autumn Shows. These have grown over the years from the original In-Hand Show and now boast five rings with something, we feel, for everyone. The schedule includes gymkhana games and handy pony, an all day clear round, showjumping from 1’9” – 3’0”, working hunters, ridden and in-hand showing and best rider classes.



The Dartford and District Riding Club likes to field both Junior and Senior teams to competitions in all spheres. The club pays entry fees for any member representing it. Being in Area 10 of the British Riding Clubs is quite a tough call, with many long standing and respected riding clubs in ‘opposition’ for coveted places at The National Championships, yet Dartford have performed very well. Within the last three years successes have included qualification for the National Championships in Senior Open Horse Trials ( Leigh Ann Kerr ), Junior Riding Test ( Hannah Lewis ), and a Senior Novice Dressage and Riding Test Team ( Flair Sifleet, Leigh Ann Kerr, Emma Swarbrick and Clare Drury ).

We have also qualified for the London and South East Championships in Senior Showjumping ( Flair Sifleet, Sara Mac Donald, Jackie Liddell and Clare Drury ).
This year, we have fielded a very promising Junior jumping team of Stacey Arnold, Lacey Haward, Hollie Leathem and Jessica Sifleet who were 3rd at The Golden Cross Area 10 ‘friendly’ and 3rd again at the winter qualifier held at Eaglesfield.

Our result at the Area 10 Horse Trials held at Ardingly was a team 3rd, ( Emma Swarbrick, Sara MacDonald, Clare Drury and Katie Sanders ) qualifying us for the London and South East Championships. Katie was also a fantastic 1st in her section which qualified her for the National Championships at Offchurch in August, where she was placed 8th individually.

We aimed Junior and Senior teams at the Dressage, Riding Test, Show Jumping and Equitation Jumping qualifiers this summer. The senior dressage team of Emma Swarbrick, Dany Cocklin, Stacey Ravell and Virginia Rider won their qualifier at Detling and went to Lincoln. The Senior Equitation Jumping team of Clare Drury, Katie Sanders, Leigh Ann Kerr and Sara MacDonald also won their qualifier at Felbridge and therefore also represented the club at the nationals. In addition, another dressage team (Clare Drury, Flair Sifleet, Leigh Ann Kerr and Katie Sanders) were 3rd in the area dressage and also 3rd in the riding test, qualifying them for The London and South East Championships. Here, individual placings were secured by Sara MacDonald, (6th Horse Trails) Clare Drury (4th Riding Test) and Debbi Gilbert (4th Dressage).

Dartford and District have also been successful in team jumping. At Bluebarn, Team Dartford (Stacey Arnold, Nicola Wood and Janice Rickell) won the open, hosted by Canterbury Riding Club. Then another Dartford team (Amey Hudson-Smith, Jessica Lovell and Clare Drury) won the Open Teams of Three hosted by Blackhorse Events.
2006 has been Dartford’s most successful year teamwise. We intend to build on our successes and are looking forward to competing in various competitions indoors over the winter months.
In all that our teams do, the enjoyment of competing as a team is paramount.


Membership to The Dartford and District Riding Club holds many benefits. Members receive vastly reduced entry fees to all competitions where a special rosette is always awarded to the highest placed member. A cheaper rate for rallies and clinics is also available to members. The club has visited Badminton Horse Trials and Olympia on a number of occasions. Last year, we hosted a Boat Party on the Thames, a new venture, which was an opportunity for members and friends to ‘get away from the horses’ for a change!! Members receive a regular club newsletter which updates them on all that’s going on. ‘Rider’ ( the magazine produced by B.R.C. ) is also delivered to each member.


This year, the club has decided to adopt Demelza House as its charity. This is a local respite centre for very sick children. A request for voluntary donations to be added onto competition fees is included on entry forms. We also support the ‘Rugs for Redwings’ charity. The collection point for unwanted rugs is at Shannon Leigh Stables, where member Mandy Giles will store and then transport rugs down to Redwings for use on their rescued and retired horses and ponies.

Membership to the Darford and District Riding Club is open to anyone! Junior membership costs just £15 per year, for riders 17 years and under, whilst Senior Membership is £20 per year. Membership runs from 1st February to 31st January and members wishing to represent us in official team competitions must be paid up members by 1st March each year. A family membership is available at £40 or supporters’ membership (non-riding) at £10.