SOUTH-EAST
A veteran who recently came in from two years at grass produced two near-72% novice victories.
Cristina and Howard Belton’s 19-year-old Beltons Prix Madonna was ridden by Emma McGurk and the outing served as a warm-up for the home international.
“Madonna only started competing again in May and has got better and better as she’s got fitter and stronger. She tries her heart out for you,” said Emma.
Madonna has had a varied career. This has included a spell at Bedgebury School ridden by BHS Stage III students, and she has been shown successfully as a small riding horse. Most recently she has had a foal and spent two years in the field at the Beltons’ farm.
“I’ve been working her in the fields,” said Emma. “Trotting up and down hills naturally encourages the hindlegs to come under and work more energetically, and develops strength and balance. At this show, I was pleased to see how her medium trot has improved.”
Carolyn Collyer’s Jazz x Inspecteur eight-year-old
Fiasco II has also returned to competition this season, after a year off to gain strength.
Carolyn’s daughter Bertie made her medium debut competing Fiasco in the qualifier, where they produced a winning 72.5% medium freestyle. She rode to a floorplan devised with her trainer June Long.
“The canter is Fiasco’s forte but it’s very big and we’ve spent a lot of time training him to collect,” said Bertie. “He’s finally learning to sit and maintain ground cover.
“His simple changes are very good — we pulled off a counter-canter 15m-circle figure of eight and our trot included a half-pass zig-zag.”