Change of bit pays off
Event organiser Douglas Edward records his first intermediate win with Rehy Volunteer, while Olivia Wilmot makes a triumphant comeback after her son’s birth
FORGANDENNY organiser Douglas Edward added nothing to a smart dressage score to win intermediate section B after changing Rehy Volunteer’s bit.
The eight-year-old Irish gelding was put in a pelham after Douglas felt he had issues with steering and brakes at Floors’ two-star.
“He felt much nicer in this bit and let me ride with a lighter touch, so I didn’t have to set him up too much for the combinations,” said Douglas, who competed three in the intermediate sections. “He isn’t the scopiest of my three, but he’s clever and he felt as if I could point and shoot today.”
Douglas bought Rehy Volunteer in Ireland as a threeyear-old through Richard Sheane, and had him backed before importing him. His aim is Blair Castle CCI2*.
In second was Emily Philp,
another with three rides, on Cupido III, who added a handful of time-penalties to her dressage score. She clocked up a third in the open intermediate (OI) on Camembert (Bert), who was returning to competition after 18 months off through injury.
“Camembert has been a bit fragile so it was lovely to be able to run him as the going was so good. He’s careful, quick and bold,” said Emily, who is hoping to qualify the 12-year-old gelding for Pau.
“Cupido is exceptionally talented but has been tricky,” Emily added. “For the first year I couldn’t ride him off the yard to hack — he would only go backwards — and he cantered all the movements in his tests. He’s 10 now and the penny is dropping.”
Emily picked up 20 penalties on her other ride, Hells Bells, at the water, which turned out to be the bogey in the intermediate. A dozen combinations faulted here, with some finding the striding tricky from the log drop at 11 to fence 12 in the water.
“If your horse was bold and launched in you could find yourself on a half stride to 12. Bert was clever and scrambled over but my mare was less experienced. It was a strong combination of fences,” explained Emily.
BACK WITH A BANG FROM MATERNITY LEAVE
OLIVIA WILMOT confessed she was a bit of a passenger as her experienced campaigner Zebedee De Foja skipped round on her first competitive ride since the birth of her son Hunter eight weeks ago to win the OI.
“He was just so happy to be out. I was a bit nervous as he can be a bit of a spooky monkey and he was last here as a six-year-old when we got over 40 timepenalties as I tried to get him round,” said Olivia, who is in the middle of moving her horses from her parents’ and has them with a friend while her stables are being built.
Yasmin Ingham headed intermediate section C with Janette Chinn and Sue and Edwin Davies’ Rehy DJ, who recorded his sixth double clear this season.
“He’s adjustable and I don’t have to spend time setting him up, and he’s clever,” said Yasmin, who was a double gold medallist on the pony team in 2013.
“Rachel Wakefield helped me find him in Ireland and my long-term hope is that he might be a contender for the young rider Europeans next year,” said Yasmin, who is based at the Davies’ Peewit Stud and produces young horses for them. “But I’d love to be selected for the seven-year-olds at Le Lion this year if we can keep our form.”