A busy freelance rider dominated at elementary at Beacons Equestrian.
‘I’m always thinking, “Please lift your front legs up!”’
KATY APPLIN ON ACE OF SPADES
Katy Applin won both classes on different rides.
“I seem to spend my life on the M4,” said Katy, who travels to clients from her base near Swansea and rode four horses here.
Katy’s first win came in the elementary 44 aboard Ace Of Spades VII, the 15hh coloured cob gelding she is riding while his owner Rachel Buckman recovers from surgery.
“Ace is a proper workhorse and happiest when he has a job to do,” said Katy. “He can be quite flat, so medium trot is a challenge. I’m always thinking, ‘Please lift your front legs up!’ We do lots of pole work and there are plenty of hills in the Welsh valleys to take him up.”
Katy took the elementary 57 qualifier with Isaura Van T Ceusterh of.
“When she hears the bell, she gets her game head on,” said Katy of Donna Sweeney’s 10-year-old Belgian warmblood, who has secured her ticket to the regionals.
The runners-up were Gemma Somers and Hallucination, this year’s novice silver Area Festival champions.
“She’s a big girl and can be tense,” said Gemma of Wesley Shufflebottom’s 18hh Vivaldi mare, who also headed the novice 27 qualifier. “She has a naturally high head carriage and is difficult to bring deeper — the opposite of my gelding Glen Prossen. He’s had a bit of a break and is getting back on the straight and narrow, so I’m pleased with his medium win.”