27th August 2025
The morning started off beautifully with the sun shining, but it seems the weather had other plans as the day progressed.
Carey Smith and her lovely 18yo cob Twin Cam Teddy had a great start, winning the Prelim class with a strong score of 65%; Carey said that she was looking for a new challenge after deciding to slow down a little and do less jumping with Teddy and this was only their second British Dressage competition. Hopefully we will see a lot more of them in the future as they aim to qualify for the Winter Area Festival Championships.
The novice classes were our biggest of the day and the winner of both classes was lovely young rider Emilia Mole on her elegant horse Hollyhurst Bugatti. Emilia said they had just returned from the U25 champs at Sheepgate which she found challenging but very rewarding and a learning experience and was overall really pleased their results. Emilia recently qualified for the Area Festival Champs at Speedgate in Prelim and the results from today have started her winter qualifications at Novice level strongly.
The weather took a turn for the worse during the Elementary class, with torrential rain making things difficult for our elementary competitors Avery Maude and Paula Sheldon. Despite the challenging conditions, Avery’s mare Deepest Blue performed admirably, with Avery calling her a saint! Paula was riding her lovely horse Jive Dancer at a competition for the first time in over a year and was quite rightly pleased despite the challenging weather!
Hannah Knight, had a successful day, winning both the medium music and advanced medium straight class. With the Area Festival Champs in October and the Senior Home Nations at Chard coming up, Hannah certainly has a busy schedule ahead.
Kerrie Love was competing the lovely Felice in her first medium today, the weather really wasn’t being kind, but Kerrie was overall pleased with their progress and is looking forward to the Area Festival Champs with both Felice and her other horse Penlove Aristocrat. Both of whom qualified at the Speedgate Area Festival earlier this month.
The day ended on a high note with Julia Brazier and Daisy Grey’s fabulous Madonna music medley in the Advanced Medium Freestyle.
Finally, Joyce Wood, the judge, emphasized the importance of accuracy in dressage, particularly with circle sizes. Her advice to practice and ensure accuracy is spot on, as it can make a significant difference in the marks.
Overall, it was a day filled with impressive performances, challenging weather, and valuable learning experiences for all the competitors. Well done to everyone involved! 😊
Full results can be found on Horse Monkey. Photographs taken on the day can be purchased via neillennonphotography.com.
Upcoming events for your diary are Showjumping on the 7th September. Where we will have a lovely new course set up for you and following the competition arena hire will also be available.
This is followed by a weekend of dressage on 13th and 14th September. Saturday will be My Quest, Team Quest and Unaffiliated and Sunday British Dressage where we will be running Prelim right through to Inter 1 with freestyle classes.
We look forward to seeing you soon.