RLC Equestrian

Military competition season 2023

In 2023, the Army Equitation Association has unveiled the new Inter-Corps Competition where points are accumulated from each military fixture. We are looking to build upon last year's success, which would not be possible without our valuable support staff who help us on the ground. SSgt Todd Hayes (151 RLC) has shared some of his experiences below.

A view from the ground –SSgt Todd Hayes (151 RLC)

Attending the 2022 Royal Navy Championships as a groom was the first ever equestrian competition that I attended. This was a massive eye opener, only having joined the club late last year.

I was eager to learn and Maj Darke was a very helpful mentor passing her knowledge onto me from her years of experience. The four days I spent there enabled me to be more confident and ready for my future challenges on my riding journey. I feel more prepared to compete in the upcoming Army Grassroots League by understanding how some of the basic exercises I have been taught apply all the way up to Corps level and beyond.

The rhythm of a competition and the preparation at all stages takes dedication from the whole team and I am so proud to have seen Team RLC succeed. I would like to encourage new riders, to help out at Corps-level competitions to gain some competition experience, as I still learnt a lot despite being on my feet and supporting from the ground.

Social media – Search “RLC_equiuk” on Instagram, “RLC Mounted Sports Club” on Facebook.

The RLC MSC supported disciplines contacts: Mounted Skill at Arms -Maj David Puckey David.Puckey947@mod.gov.uk

Polo - Capt James (Nick) Lowe James.Lowe643@mod.gov.uk

Dressage/showjumping/eventing (Corps team) –Maj Hannah Hewins Hannah.Hewins825@mod.gov.uk Centralised training including beginners novices and non-horse owners –Maj Georgie Mawbey

Georgina.Mawbey101@mod.gov.uk

Brigadier Michael Charles Owen was born 27th November 1936. He was one of four children born to a poor mining family in South Wales. He described his father as ‘unambitious’ and mother an Irish rebel and he meant rebel. After her funeral in 1973 he was taken for a drink by her Irish brothers, all card-carrying members of the IRA, who offered him a ‘special pass’ to visit them in Ireland, assuring him that nothing would be done to him by the ‘boyos’ with their pass in his hand. As a serving member of the British Army, at the time, he declined their kind offer.

Mike spent his childhood in the Cynon Valley with the run of the surrounding woods, mountains, and slag heaps with ‘the gang’other boys from the same village. During WW2 they watched German bombers flying low up the valley but lost interest when they climbed into the next one; because despite hundreds being killed there, it might as well have been another country. It was a very limited world that they lived in.

Mike was bright and applied along with 600 others for the 60 available places at Aberdare Grammar school. He was top boy in the entrance exams. School went well both in class and on the sports field and he left with good O Levels, but A Levels and University were beyond the means of the family, so he left school to earn a wage. Working initially at a radio repair shop and then a silk printer, he attended night school where he did an ONC but before studying for an HNC, he joined the Army.

Mike described his childhood as poor, limited but contented. He joined the Army in 1954 as a private soldier and was quickly promoted to Corporal. His elder brother prodded him to apply for a commission which he did rather half heartily and was surprised to be accepted into Sandhurst via Mons and he passed out in 1957.

During Mike’s 37 years in the Army, he saw service in the UK, Germany, Singapore, Borneo, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and the USA in ever more senior roles and rank. His career appeared to consist of either blowing up or making safe explosives. Mike was injured while moving dangerous WWII ordnance in Germany and again making safe a booby trap in Borneo. He came under sustained fire in Cyprus, confronted pipe bombs in Northern Ireland, disarmed a car bomb meant for the visiting Shah of Iran in Germany and lectured at Quantico, the FBI HQ in the USA. The poor lad from the South Wales mining village had, by any standards, a remarkable career.

For 54 years of that journey his wife Pat was beside him or as he openly called her ‘his princess’. Mike met Pat, a teacher, at a cocktail party in Germany in 1959 and what followed Mike described as evenings of tennis and a great deal of fun. They married in 1960 and remained a devoted and loving couple. They were two kindred spirits - Mike told of having to blow up unstable ordnance on a cold wet day and not waiting the required 20 minutes, walked straight to the pit and was horrified at what he saw! Turning and running, the explosion threw him through the air but apart from some scrapes and a bruised ego he was fine. On returning home Pat immediately asked him ‘what happened just before 3pm?’ He explained and she said that she had fainted and after coming to, had remained anxious all afternoon. This repeated itself whenever Mike was in danger and frightened. As dementia bit and Pat’s health faded, Mike’s gentle devotion was an example of what love and duty truly is.

Finally, there was his faith. Mike studied, was examined, qualified, and practiced as a lay preacher and that deep founded faith was certainly a major factor in his fight back from Pat’s death. Regrettably, COVID and the lockdown, or solitary confinement as Mike called it, was no friend to the active, sociable Mike but as his health faded his stoicism was remarkable and a real example right to the very end.

That famous son of Rome, Seneca said: ‘A Life well lived is long enough’ and that Mike firmly believed. But Mike summed it up best in his own words: ‘It has been a good life”. Brigadier Michael Charles Owen QGM will be remembered with vast love and great respect. Huw Owen Nephew