Charlotte Dujardin and Kim Seaby put in top performances to lead
the British Horse Feeds Open and Restricted Advanced Medium at the
Winter Dressage Championships.
The British Horse Feeds Advanced Medium Open Championship
attracted a host of professional and amateur riders, providing
spectators with a showcase of top quality dressage action.
The top three riders, all trained by Carl Hester at
his Gloucestershire yard , battled it out for the title but it was
Carl's star pupil Charlotte Dujardin riding Don Archie who was
crowned champion with 74.12%. Owned by Carl and Anne Cory, Don
Archie is British-bred by Kate Carter using Dimaggio.
In second place with 70.35%, Jo Hamilton and Vivaldi V
finished ahead of Katie Bailey and Nip Tuck (68.25%).
A delighted Charlotte said; "I'm really pleased with Don
Archie today - he's grown up so much over the last year and matured
a lot. I'm also thrilled with how he dealt with the atmosphere in
the arena. He didn't do much last year as I was concentrating on
Valegro but he's really coming on and we'll continue at small tour
level this year and aim to go Grand Prix early in 2013."
In the British Horse Feeds Advanced Medium Restricted
Championship it was Hampshire-based Kim Seaby and nine-year old
German-bred mare Rubin-Esque who secured the top spot in a field of
20 with 67.02%.
"I'm so happy with her, She was really
consistent in the arena today," said a delighted Kim. "We 'held our
breath' a little at the start, until the walk. We then both
relaxed, remembered to breathe and from then on it felt noticeably
better."
"'Robin' has a lot of power which, as she's become older
and stronger, has become easier to harness. We can now keep the
power and the balance at a good level."
"We've owned her since she was a two-year-old, when
she was bought as a project for me to train on," said Kim, who
rides and works for James Burtwell. "She's been great and has all
the ability. She's a chestnut mare who likes to be in control and
she does have an opinion, but when she's on-side she gives
everything."
"We hope to kick on for prix st georges and maybe qualify
for the PSG freestyle next year. She's finding the advanced work
easy, it's all there. We just need to work on putting it together
for a test."
In second place, David Rumsey and DRD
Florina H scored 66.84% and Jane Chatterton riding Cranswicks
Monopoly finshed third with a score of 66.05%.
"Liz Hesketh of British Horse Feeds presents Charlotte Dujardin and Don Archie with their Speedi-Beet Clock."