British Dressage News written by Daisy Jackson
2013 ended with an exciting
finish at Olympia’s World Cup
qualifier and 2014 began with
a brilliant start opening with the
showcasing of British stallions
at the British Bred Sports Horse
and Pony Stallion Event.
At Olympia Charlotte Dujardin
broke yet another world record
with Valegro scoring a massive
93.97% in the Freestyle - what
a fantastic role model for British
dressage riders. All of those
that were lucky enough to get
to Olympia were treated to a
breath-taking performance as
once again Charlotte and Valegro
surpassed themselves and all
who have gone before them.
The duo gained an artistic score of 91.350%
and a technical score of 96.600% including a
whopping percentage of 99.000% given to them
by the French judge. Also scoring highly for
Great Britain was Michael Eilberg on Half Moon
Delphi coming 4th with 78.70%. Lara Griffith,
Laura T’s protégée scored 74.45% on Laura’s
Andretti H, Carl Hester took 11th on Gemma
Appleton’s Fine Time 13 and Emile Faurie came
15 with Topolino ll. In the Grand Prix Charlotte
took the top spot scoring 84.85%. Michael was
5th with 74.10%, Carl came 10th with 69.89%,
Lara 12th with 69.48% and Emile 15th with
67.87%. All in all a brilliant show and great
representation of British Dressage!
Although not strictly dressage, I wanted to touch
upon the Stallion Event held in Hartpury on the
4th January. I am a great supporter of British
breeding having 3 British bred horses myself. I
was keen to find out which dressage stallions
are available and how we are doing as breeders
on the whole. So here is a quick rundown of
some of the most impressive stallions.
Larkshill Debonair showed a super canter in
particular and he had only just returned from
Germany from passing his 30 day stallion
performance test. He was shown under his new
rider Leah Beckett who had only sat on him 5
times beforehand so they did really well.
Above Larkshill Debonair
Kingswood Durable is impressive both in stature
and paces. He possesses massive movement
and stands at a huge 18hh but luckily is a
gentle giant in the stable. Of course he has
already proved himself under saddle by winning
the shearwater 4 year old championships and
I think his foals will be exciting. Although he
had such huge scope he looked a little tired on
the day as he is only young and still growing
so perhaps didn’t show as well as some of the
other stallions.
GF Deville and GF Dusatoir were both very
good. Dusatoir is still young and as he matures
will strengthen to show even more movement.
Keystone Diaggio also showed well, he is a
lovely type with very good paces, another one
to watch as I am sure we will see a lot of him in
competition.
Of the woodlander boys, all were impressive but
the two that stood out were, the pony stallion
Wales who is just super and Wild Child. Wales
ticks all the boxes on looks, conformation and
movement, a real step forward for sports pony
breeding. Wild child was shown on the lunge
and is of beautiful type with long legs and is
showing some good paces. I cannot wait to see
him as he matures further.
Moorlands bodyguard will be popular I am sure.
8
Everything Horse UK Magazine • February 2014 • Issue 5