Dressage at Woodlands Equestrian Centre
Woodlands EC 12/07/2009
The Ox Mountains in County Sligo provided a beautiful backdrop for the Woodlands EC summer show on a largely dry, sunny Sunday on the 12th of July.
The 20×60 outdoor arena was in use first with the Medium and Elementary classes. Simone Hession and the RID stallion, Gentle Diamond won both Medium 69 and 73, ahead of Simone Klinkert on Valley Valentine, albeit after some earnest vocals to the female residents of a nearby field.
Judge Pat Ryan then settled in to judge the rest of the days proceedings, starting with the Elementary classes. Twist of Autumn, ridden by Anna Hudson, maintained their winning form by landing two red rosettes in tests 48 and 57 in front of Mary Mitchell on Creemully Western Melody.
The Novice classes started with test 37 in the large outdoor arena. Many horses were unsettled with Simone Hession and Beezies Rose best maintaining their composure to win the class. Eavan Murphy and Nocturne de Coudre were second.
Novice 25 was held in the 20×40 indoor arena. Here, in a more focused atmosphere, scores improved markedly. Sally Ann Millar and Wadondiego emerged as winners on a score of 72.4%. Simone Hession and Beezies Rose were second this time scoring 70.4%.
Both Preliminary classes were held indoors and, unusually started well after 2pm. In Registered Preliminary 7, Siobhan Terry on Hawkswell and Emma Lawrence on Beezies Fudge battled it out with Siobhan/Hawkswell combination landing the top spot over Emma and Fudge. However, the placings were reversed in Registered Preliminary 18 with the red rosette going to Emma and Fudge.
In the Unregistered sections, A. Walsh riding Iris Fiobha were first in Preliminary 7 and Mary Cooper on Paddy Wack won Preliminary 18. Mary Mitchell on the 4 year old Connemara gelding, Larchfield Heron were second in both classes.
Under 12's rider, Alanna Cazabon Sullivan, rode three ponies in this section scoring highest on Amber in both preliminary classes, no doubt making her mother and grandmother very proud.