Dressage Morris Area
Former event rider Ria Stewart lands a double win, while 15-year-old Zoe Florence comes away with both the under-18 prelim and novice titles
Festival, plus highlights
Morris EC Petplan Equine Area Fesival Semi-Final, Ayrshire
RIA STEWART was a double winner, leading the advanced medium and scoring 70.65% in the medium bronze to win with Donnerussian.
The Donnersohn seven-yearold was purchased two years ago from Ria’s trainer Jennifer Johnston-Harman, who bought him as a weanling from Morgan Equine Stud.
“I’d previously evented so I wanted a new challenge and enjoyed schooling,” explained Ria. “Dressage at this level is very new to both of us as I hadn’t ridden above novice level before.
“He was originally very spooky so I needed to get out to lots of new venues, although he feels like he’s grown up and has really improved in the last year.
“The medium test was faultfree and he really let me ride him, although in the advanced medium he cantered through his trot halfpass so scored a two. The rest was pretty good though.
“I’m working towards prix st georges (PSG) for next year; the higher level work improves his way of going,” added Ria, an accounts assistant for an Aberdeen oil company.
Another double winner was Zoe Florence, 15, who took both the under-18 prelim and novice titles. Nicky Heale and Nick Veitch’s exciting five-year-old Welsh section D mare Balhagarty Royal Dhu led the prelim section while the part-bred Highland gelding Hirstmund Merlot topped the novice.
Ferne Fairful headed the novice silver with Amoureva Z, posting 70.83%.
The Solaris Amaroux eightyear-old mare was bought as a two-year-old from the Muirdrum Stud in Carnoustie.
“I’d originally bought her to event and always dreamed of riding at CCI* but she took a long time to mature so I decided to join British Dressage (BD) two years ago,” explained Ferne.
“I started training with Elisabeth Leslie two months ago and I feel she is so much stronger now and her collected work has improved massively.
“She is very easy to take away and compete. I’ve also done some showjumping and unaffiliated one-day events to give her some variety,” added Ferne, who is part of the British Young Riders Dressage Scheme (BYRDS) Scotland B test squad.
Fellow Scotland BYRDS rider Chloe Peat, 22, admitted she was surprised to win the elementary bronze with Cremdalla Crem after making a mistake in the first canter.
“She caught a glimpse of the score collector out of the corner of her eye and bolted into canter, so we got a couple of fours, but
the rest of the test was very good,” explained Chloe of the seven-yearold Holstein mare.
“Sometimes she can get tense but she was well behaved, calm and collected. She’s been amazing this year, winning the Scottish elementary bronze championships and was elementary winner at the Sheepgate under-25 championships. I’m so excited to qualify for the final at Hartpury,” added Chloe, who works for her parents’ stables and cattery business.
TAKE A BOW
KENDAL BOW, 16, achieved a weekend high of 72.06% in the under-18 elementary with DPUK Blue Moon. This will be their third visit to the championships with the Mooniman eight-year-old gelding.
Kendal’s trainer Catrina Leckie scored 67.63% to head the inter I silver with Adventure, while Carmen Gammie and Amalia B won the bronze section.
“I’ve been working on her connection and making sure she keeps the tempo when I collect her, which has been really helping with the canter pirouettes,” said Carmen. “We had a few costly mistakes but there were also lots of 7.5s and eights throughout the test.”
“Recent help from Niamh Meehan has really helped improve my position and effectiveness and helped us move up a gear.”
Gillian Parker was amazed to win the PSG bronze with the 13-year-old Sandro Hit mare Zaphira.
“It was such a strong class, so to come out on top was fantastic — I’m so chuffed. We’ve been working a lot on our canter and walk pirouettes as I’ve been dropping marks there recently but they were much better yesterday,” said Gillian, a mortgage product manager for RBS.
“She was tense in the trot at the start but as the test went on she was more rideable. We made a mistake in the four tempi changes but her threes were good which is usually the line we mess up.
“This is her fourth Hartpury qualification and will be her sixth national championship. I’m extremely lucky to have such an amazing horse who has enabled me to achieve so much as an amateur rider who rides around a full-time job; we’ve well and truly exceeded every goal we’ve set.
“I’ve had a few lessons with Jennifer Johnston Harman recently to get a fresh pair of eyes on me. It’s been a fantastic help from someone who is at the top of their game and knows where the bar is set.”
Jennifer’s daughter, Becca, led the PSG silver with Donnergott.
“Becca was cross afterwards
as she’d made a mistake in the threes and fours but I enjoyed watching them; they are a lovely pair and have a great partnership,” said Jennifer, who also helps train the medium silver winners, Sam Turpitt and Bali Dancer. “‘Ferdi’ just loves dressage at night — he thinks everyone is there to watch him. He looks after Becca well and it’s emotional to watch them.”
A year after leading the prelim Area Festival qualifier, Alix Henderson topped the novice bronze and finished runner-up in the elementary with traditional gypsy cob Silver Barton.
Alix, a BHSAI freelance instructor based in Edinburgh, rides the 10-year-old blue and white gelding for Elli Moug.
‘Sammy’ was purchased from endurance rider Candy Cameron
six years ago for Elli to ride at home while Alix competes him.
“I’ve been working on improving his canter, and I felt it was particularly pleasing and obedient,” said Alix, who trains with Katie Smith and Claire Moir.
“He’s an extremely genuine horse, very trainable with a huge work ethic. It was an obedient test and he was a joy to work with,” added Alix.
Taking the advanced medium silver was Amelia Ratcliffe-Smith with the experienced Rendezvous.
“He’s teaching me the ropes, and as long as I ride him properly he really tries,” explained Amelia, who trains with Eilidh Grant.
Sharing the same trainer was the elementary silver winner Yvonne Watt who scored 70.2% with Carbone Z.