‘High-octane’ horse gives his all
Keysoe Area Festival, Beds
“WE decided to go for gold,” said Anna Bostrand-Daly, who triumphed in the inter I bronze with It’s Avo. “I’d held back a bit in the PSG the previous day, as we had a long journey home overnight. But the harder it gets, the better he is. He’s a machine!”
Since Anna bought “Bo” at five, the Chippendale gelding has moved swiftly through the levels.
“We did the inter I at the summer Area Festival championship in October, but after training over winter, he came back this time with a score way better,” she said of Bo’s 66.96% performance. “He’s a high-octane horse who always comes out super-keen, so the lockdown was tough on us. I’ve had to teach him how to have a day off, as he never wants one.”
Louise Gallavan’s eightyear-old gelding Sandros Fire contained his exuberance to head the advanced medium bronze, after arriving late the night before the show due to travel problems.
“It meant he accidentally had the day off which, as anyone who knows him would agree, means he can be explosive,” she said. “But he pulled it out of the bag.”
Louise, who trains with David Trott, explained that the trick with “Oliver” is to ride him like a mare.
“He always has an opinion, so you have to make him feel as if it was his idea,” she said. “Things need to be really clear, and when he gets it he feels proud of himself.
“He had a break over the pandemic and needs to be out quite a lot to keep his confidence up,” added Louise.
“I’m starting to see a really exciting future with him.”
Sophie Palmer collected two sashes for wins at prelim and novice bronze with Moylaw Alawhatsit, the rising eight-yearold Irish Draught/thoroughbred gelding she affiliated last autumn.
“I bought ‘Goose’ as a fouryear-old and to begin with, we did a bit of everything,” said Sophie, who works in IT development for an insurance company and trains with event rider Rhian Smith. “I lacked the belief in myself to affiliate him in any discipline, but I tried a couple of British Dressage camps to test the water and enjoyed it.”
With encouragement from a friend, Sophie set her sights on the Area Festival – aiming for nothing more than to take home one of the Petplan stable door plaques given out with score sheets.
“He was amazing in the prelim, the most responsive he has ever been, and won the novice despite making a mistake in the medium trot and breaking into canter,” said Sophie, who is also teaching Goose some groundwork with A2i Natural Horsemanship and plans to try affiliated eventing. “He’s sensitive and sometimes wary of other horses in the warm-up, but he’s a happy horse – everyone’s best friend.”