WALES
& WEST
Just two months
after a rotton
tooth extraction,
Wikinger proved
he was back on
winning form.
Abbie Newbury, who rode Lizzie
Ryan’s 13-year-old gelding to
an advanced medium win at
Burrows Court Farm, reported
that the removal of a rotten molar
had left the Wordly son feeling
much happier.
“He was becoming a bit
tricky with the contact, so we
investigated,” said Abbie, who
sought help from equine dentistry
specialist Chris Pearce MRCVS.
“The tooth was taken out
under sedation. We spent a bit
of time getting him back up to
speed and this was his first
outing since.
“Wikinger can be a bit nervous
in the arena, but he’s gaining
confi dence,” added Abbie, who
trains with Anne Keen and is
aiming for young rider classes.
“I was particularly pleased with
his flying changes.”
Charlotte Smithwhite
secured novice and elementary
wins at Kings Equestrian with
her nine-year-old gelding CHB,
shortly before taking an enforced
break from her role as Mat
Burnett’s head girl and rider.
“Poor Charlotte has viral
meningitis and has lost her voice,”
explained Mat. “She bought CHB
as a stallion and has done a great
job of producing him — the judge,
Judith Harris, came up to her at
Kings to comment on how well
she had ridden him. He’s quite
a hot horse, like a lot of Johnson
ofspring, and has only been to
a handful of shows.
“Charlotte has also been
competing grand prix stallion
Treliver Decanter and tried her
first under-25 grand prix with him
at the same venue a fortnight ago.”
CENTRAL
A rider is enjoying a successful
return to novice after several years
spent riding at the higher levels.
Managing director of Swallowfield
Equestrian Centre and UKCC
level four British Dressage (BD)
coach Jo Swain landed the highest
score of the day at the centre when
claiming novice 22 with 71.72%,
riding her own six-year-old mare
MSL Saloutto.
Jo bought the Samba Hit
mare from Margaret Lister
in December.
“She has done four shows, all
novice classes, and won them all,
so she is qualified for the winter
regionals,” said Jo. “I haven’t
ridden a novice test for many
years. My top horse, Lord Of The
Rings, is now 19 and competing
at inter II, but it’s been just as
exciting riding at the lower levels,
which are so competitive now.”
Jo trains with Erik Theilgaard
and Henry Boswell.
“Henry is based with the
Listers, who bred her, so it’s nice
to take her back there and train
her where she was born,” added
Jo. “Swallowfield is our base, so
the plan now is to go out to some
bigger venues and get more
arena experience at bigger
show centres.”
Natalie Allen enjoyed a
successful outing to Solihull,
where she won three classes with
two horses.
Gill and Andrew Ferguson’s
Hannover, aka Hans, a six-year-
old Dutch gelding by Armani,
landed a double novice win, while
Sarah Rakovshik’s nine-year-old
Fidertanz gelding, Fi Chellio,
headed advanced medium 96.
“Hans can be quite hot and he’s
still green, but it was the first time
he really relaxed,” said Natalie.
“I’ve got really high hopes for him
because he’s very talented. The
more I do and the higher he goes,
the better he is.”
Natalie took on the ride of Fi
Chellio two years ago.
“He’s working towards small
tour at home and that was only his
second advanced medium,” she
said. “He’s got all the credentials
for grand prix.”
NORTH-WEST
Emma Holmes and Westhills
Watermark put an advanced
medium win under their belts.
The Longdean Westminster
12-year-old is owned by Colin and
Karen Holmes, who bred him
from a KWPN mare.
“I never thought I’d get this far
so quickly,” said Emma, who did
her first prelim on the horse at the
beginning of 2016. “He’d done a
couple of mediums with Helen
Lowe before then but picked up a
mystery injury in the stable.”
Many scans later, the vets
determined that he’d put a
massive tear in one of the muscles
between his back legs, possibly by
slipping and doing the splits.
“He had a four-hour operation
to stitch it back together and I
started rehabbing him,” explained
Emma. “It was around the
time the BD rules changed, so
I was able to drop him down the
levels and start again. We’ll work
on the prix st georges [PSG]
through the winter and get that
a little more established, and see
where it takes us.”
Shona Rooney’s first
ailiated BD test turned out to
be a winning one as she won the
prelim 14 at Tushingham with
Tobago Bay, a thoroughbred/Irish
Draught mare by Old Leighlin,
whom Shona bought as a
fi ve-year-old.
“I’d lost my previous horse
and lost my confidence so, when
I bought her, a friend evented
her for a couple of seasons,” said
Shona, who trains with Sam
Morrison. “I did Team Quest at
the beginning of the year and
we’ve qualified for the final, but
Sam has been at me for ages to
ai liate and I’ve fi nally done it.”
The continuation should be... https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5d6105f79f272100ac7d466c/dressage-part-2-5da6e14035ca3100ac3dad7f