He is by Gribaldi and was drop
dead gorgeous and performed
well. Platinum Honey’s Hope the
pony stallion behaved brilliantly
for his first time out under saddle.
His walk and canter are super and
his temperament looks to have
the excellent qualities you would
look for in a pony.
The last to come in was
Woodcraft Garuda K and
heshowed himself really well, he
is a stunning stallion and is such
a good choice for so many British
mares as he is a Trakehner so
helps to refine and modernise.
Above: Erin Williams and her new ride Waverly
Back to conventional dressage and two young
riders really stood out for me this month. Erin
Williams whose new ride is her mother’s horse,
Waverly. Erin is a 16 year old junior rider that
has competed internationally at the European
Championships for the pony team on several
occasions and is now in a very strong position
for Juniors. I caught up with Erin to find out
more about her plans for this year.
“After being part of the GB Pony Team for 4
years, I am now 16, too old for ponies and
officially a ‘Junior’ dressage rider! Following
my last Pony European Championships in Italy
in July I sold my lovely palomino pony Dynasty
to Austria to concentrate on working towards a
place on the GB Junior Team. Recently I have
taken over the ride on my Mum’s horse Waverly
(we call her Lola) to run alongside my more
experienced mare Fleurie and my young stallion
Billionaire.
Lola is rising 11 but is very green at competing
as she was previously a brood mare in Holland.
She is by Gribaldi and has had several foals,
both naturally and by embryo transfer before
starting her new job as a dressage superstar!
Over the last couple of years she has really
matured in her training and I have begun to
compete her at Advanced Medium/Junior level.
She is a big mare, at over 17 hands, but is a
gentle giant and is not strong or spooky. We
have done a few Advanced Medium classes
and she qualified for the Winter Regionals in
just a couple of outings. Last week we did
an Advanced Medium Freestyle at Askham
Bryan College using borrowed music and floor
Lucy and Sheepcote Don Calisto. Image kind permission
from Image Point Photography
plan from Fleurie. I was really happy with the
test and we scored really well to win the class
with 73.88% which qualified us for the 2015
Freestyle Championships!
Next weekend Lola and I are off to the High
Profile Show at Addington to have a run through
of the Junior Team test. If we get a good score
at Addington I am hoping that I will be able to
take her to an international competition later in
the year. It will all a bit of a juggling act though
as I have my GCSE exams in May and June!”
Issue 5 • February 2014 • Everything Horse UK Magazine
9