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Dressage season closes in style

The affiliated dressage season wrapped-up with the two day UAE National Dressage Championships, hosted by the Emirates Equestrian Centre (EEC).

Horses and riders were at the top of their game, out to secure the respective Championship titles and end the season on a high.

There were nine classes in total, all requiring complete discipline and determination given the intricacies of the sport, horse and rider needing to be uniformed in both skill and harmony whilst performing.

Day one consisted of the National Team Championships, the Individual Novice class, Purebred Arabian class (Novice) and the three classes held at Preliminary level - Seniors, Juniors and the newly introduced Children’s Special class.

Day two saw the higher levels of Advanced Medium, along with the Medium and Elementary classes.

Novice, Elementary, Medium and Advanced Medium classes consisted of two parts: a set test followed by a Dressage to Music test, designed and choreographed by each rider. Both scores were tallied.

The premier event was the Advanced Medium class, which was duly won by top rider Joanne Ivemey. Ivemey, riding for Desert Palm Stables, has been a consistent competitor throughout the season and was thrilled to win the Championships. Ivemey’s big bay gelding Archimedes was on fire and although the scores were tight, it was a well deserved win on the night.

Said the winning rider: “Even though I was really pleased with our tests I really didn’t know if we’d won until they called my name. All riders were extremely close in points and it could easily have gone to any of us. I was thrilled with the results, Archie really pulled it together today.”

Royal Stables Charlotte Drakeley and EEC’s Janice Jackson were in a nail-biting battle for the runner up position. Drakeley, riding Ronaldo held the second position by an extremely narrow .02%. Although Jackson’s K¸r was the superior test, it wasn’t quite good enough to beat Drakeley’s first test advantage.

The Medium Class saw less than 1% separating the winner and runner up. A class with very equal competitors saw little discrepancy between the first three placegetters after the initial test.

Christel Langlois was leading on her Arabian Stallion RS Kahraman, followed closely by Courtney Delport on her Andalusian stallion Lancero.

Tracy Gill riding the Latvian warmblood mare Picarda was in third place until her turn around crowd pleasing performance in the Kr, ridden to tango, shot them into the lead, winning the Medium Championships.