Keeley fought off stiff competition from other competitors whilst riding her own 5 year old gelding, Jack. Keeley has owned Jack since he was a foal, “When Jack was born he was so lazy and weak. He wouldn't even feed so I stayed up with him for 48 hours lifting him to his mum so he could have a drink”, explains Keeley, “That's where his name come from, as in idle Jack.”
Keeley broke Jack in herself and started doing dressage last year, she said “We came to the championships last year and were placed fourth but I was amazed with his results this year.” Keeley has attended the Trailblazers Championships for several years, “I have enjoyed every year but this year has made my dreams come true. I was absolutely stunned to win!” Keeley also competed a second horse this year, Stanbeck By Request, known as Elliott, who won the Nettex Elementary dressage warm up class and was placed 2nd and 6th in the Elementary dressage on the Saturday and Sunday.
Sophie, who is a marketing consultant, use to ride a lot and in 1987 she won a scholarship with British Dressage. She rode successfully for many years but by the age of 30 she gave up riding to concentrate on her career. It was 10 years before Sophie got back in the saddle and it has been a long journey, “It was a real struggle, after ten years off I had to start from the very beginning. I had no balance or core strength. I couldn’t even do sitting trot, I spent six months just walking”, explained Sophie. She couldn’t believe how difficult it was to get back to riding fitness after her time off, “It took me five years to get my body back to riding fitness” she said. Trailblazers was an opportunity for her to compete again. “I thought if I get in the top ten, I’ll be thrilled. If I don’t fall off, I’ll be thrilled. I wasn’t expecting to win at all”, she said,
Suzanne and Wolfie have attended the championships for the last four years and it has really helped build up her confidence. “It’s like a family holiday, me and my mum go and we’ve made friends from all over the country through it, we see them every year at the championships”, explains Suzanne. “We had a bad first day and nearly went home. On the Friday we did the warm up class and when they rang the bell Wolfie must have thought he’d been shot because he bolted forward and I nearly fell off”, explained Suzanne. After completing her test she had a nervous wait for the results but was delighted that they managed to hang on to the lead, with a score that was just 4% higher than the horse and rider in second place.
“The best part was winning the class on Sunday. In 2005, I won the SEIB Search for a Star Riding Horse/Hack class on Perfect Alibi at HOYS. When we went back in for the prize giving at Trailblazers they were playing the same music as they did at HOYS - it was so great!” added Suzanne, who hopes to take part in the Series again next year.
Sophie bought the 10 year old gelding last year as she had out grown her old pony and was looking for a new horse that she would be able to progress with. Sophie started riding at the age of six and has had several ponies including Ace, who proved to be a bit of a liability and Sophie suffered several injuries. She was kicked in the face and had to be airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where she underwent many operations and spent weeks in hospital, and having made a full recovery, she started riding again only to suffer a bad fall off Ace and brake her arm. Her family had had enough, Ace was sold and a 13.2hh New Forest pony called Scooter was acquired. Scooter restored Sophie’s confidence and the pair were successful in qualifying for their first Trailblazers Championships in 2013. Sophie got Aragon in 2014 and Trailblazers was her goal from the beginning. “He was imported over from Holland and was bred as a show jumper so I’ve done a lot of schooling with him to get to where we are now”, said Sophie, “Trailblazers was my motivation and gave me something to work towards.”
The pair had a very successful weekend at the Championships; they won the Prelim Dressage warmup class on the Friday and were placed second in both the Intro and Prelim Dressage on the Saturday. Sophie was completely overwhelmed by the experience, “My highlight was when I was waiting for the line-up and a lady came up and told me I’d made it into the top six. I couldn’t believe it, I was speechless”, she explains. Sophie plans to do some British Dressage with Aragon next year and will aim to qualify her younger horse for the Trailblazers 2016 Championships.
This was Naomi’s third time at the Championships and this year her sister, Rebecca, was also competing. The family travelled for three hours from their home in Cheshire to where they were staying with friends for the weekend. “The show ground was another hour away, however, it was worth the long journey”, said Naomi. Rebecca was placed ninth in her class on the Saturday and fifth in the Prelim dressage class on the Sunday. Naomi was third in the first round on Saturday and won the second round on Sunday to take the Nettex Junior Preliminary Championship. “Rebecca was very happy and proud of us” she said. Naomi had also qualified for the Nettex Junior Novice Championship and finished second in the class on Saturday. Naomi tells us, “The prizing giving was really good, Pepper gets quite excited for the lap of honour.”
The Trailblazers championships was the start of the school holiday for Naomi and the pair will also be competing at the Pony Club Eventing Nationals in August and the Riding Club Dressage Nationals in September. Naomi had a great weekend at the championships, she said “Pepper knows his job and is a bit of a show off, so he’s really good at shows. It’s just me who gets nervous.” Naomi will aim to qualify for the Novice dressage next year with Pepper.
The Nettex Junior Novice Dressage Championship was a very close and resulted in joint winners, Isabella Tisdall riding Ucicero Domingo, and Shauna Carman riding Frogertie “Emily”, who both finished on an impressive score of 151.15 after the two rounds of competition.
Isabella travelled for four hours from her home in Essex on Friday to get to the championships but it was all worthwhile. “The highlight for me was riding the Novice dressage test, I knew it was going well and Flash was so soft and had a really good rhythm”, she said.
Shauna, 15, rode her own 14 year old mare, Frogertie, or Emily as she is known as at home. Shauna has had Emily for 2 years and got her from a friend, Alan Scott, in 2013. Sharon, Shauna’s mum, Sharon, tells us, “Alan rang us one day and said he had a little mare perfect for us, so we went to go and see her. Emily was a brood mare and had only just been broken to be ridden. She had fantastic paces and huge scope over a jump, but she just didn’t know what to do with it all. We just had to have her, she was beautiful”.
Shauna has competed in British Eventing with Emily, doing her first BE100 this year. It is important to Shauna, who is a student at Durham Johnston School, to support her eventing with good dressage which led the pair to competing in pure dressage at Trailblazers. “We came last year with a friend who encouraged us to go. We enjoyed the experience immensely and were pleased to qualify again this year”, said Sharon. The pair came 11th in the 2014 Junior Novice Championship and Shauna has worked hard with her trainer Samantha Brown to improve their dressage. It took the family over seven and a half hours from their home in Durham to get to the show due to bad traffic, “It was worth it, the highlight was the Novice class. We were absolutely shocked when we looked at the leader board. Shauna’s never won a Championship like that before, we were speechless” said Sharon, “When the lady but a sash round Emily’s neck, I couldn’t believe it!” Said Shauna, who hopes to qualify for the Trailblazers Championships again next year.
With glorious sunshine at the Championships there was a captive audience to enjoy the new treat of the “Master Class in the Park” which took place on the Friday evening. All onsite were welcomed free of charge to watch top international dressage trainer, Adam Kemp, who entertained and educated the crowd with useful insights into his training techniques.
Images Copyright Real Time Imaging
