SLRC Dressage Teams at Area 1 Qualifier

SLRC sent two teams across to Strathaven for the weekend of the Area 1 dressage qualifier.

The Novice team consisted of Sarah de Leon (Claybank Camina B), Ailsa MacTaggart (Pamplemousse), Robin MacTaggart (O Toby) and Claire Rutherford (Ronaldo).

The four riders in the Open team were Alison Allan (Dreamboat II), Sarah Allan (Trigger Happy), Sarah de Leon (Claybank Can-I-B) and Linda Scott Robinson (Iona Mist).

There was some doubt as to whether the dressage was going to be on as the weather in the Borders on the Friday evening was wild, wet and very windy. Kayaks seemed to be the order of the day! There was also a last minute horse change for Ailsa who’s gelding, Cumano, had an abscess so her 4 year old mare, Pamplemousse was drafted in at the eleventh hour to make her competition debut (no pressure then…).

Still, Saturday dawned and the weather across in Strathaven was in total contrast to what we left at home. Dry, still and even the sun was shining. There were large entries for all the classes, and the standard of riding throughout the weekend was very high. Polnoon Castle Riders Association were the organisers and did a very good job of keeping things going smoothly.

The Novice team did well in their warm-up classes with Claire winning her class, Robin 2nd in his class and Sarah 5th in her class. The Novice team tests were in the afternoon and SLRC put on an excellent display and ended up with Sarah 1st, Robin 5th, Ailsa 9th and Claire 12th. This put our team into equal first place with EFRA !! However, as there was a tie, the judges took the 4th score into account and this dropped SLRC down to 2nd place. Still, the team were all delighted to be armed with rosettes after prize-giving and well done to Sarah for qualifying for the championships as an individual.

The Open team had a good round of warm-up tests on the Sunday. Alison was 5th in her test, while Sarah (Allan) was placed second in her warm-up. For the team tests Alison was 5th in her arena and Sarah (Allan) was 8th in her one, with the Open team finishing in 7th place overall. Alison Allan was also competing in the Dressage to Music class and won!!

So, overall not a bad weekend of dressage for SLRC, with two riders qualified for the NAF National Championships at Lincoln in September! Commiserations to the Novice team who were so close to qualifying, but literally pipped at the post. We’ll be back…!