A Weekend of Extraordinary Success For Team Equilibrium.

We are extremely proud to report a bumper weekend of ribbons in Showjumping, Dressage and Eventing for our team of sponsored riders.

Eventers

As a highlight of the Eventing calendar many riders took to Gatcombe for the Festival of British Eventing to compete in the Novice, Intermediate, CIC*** and the Advanced classes.

William Fox-Pitt had a victorious weekend winning both the Novice and the Intermediate.

William won the Smith & Williamson British Intermediate Championship with Luxury FH, an eight year old owned by Catherine Witt. After a dressage score of 26.40 William was in 2nd place and added just 5.6 time penalties across the country to finish on 32.00 and take the win.

William was also crowned the winner of the Martin Collins British Novice Championship with Top Biats, a seven year old owned by Judith and Jeremy Skinner and David and Margie Hall. William led from the start with a dressage score of 23.3 and added 6 XC time penalties to finish on a final score of 29.30.

Other successes at the Festival of British Eventing included Tina Cook having an amazing three top 10 finishes in the Equex China Advanced with De Novo News in third place, Star Witness in fifth and Calvino II in eighth. William’s Kentucky CCI**** winning horse, Bay My Hero was 10th in the Advanced.

Lucy Wiegersma took 5th place in The British Eventing Open Championship CIC*** with a score of 46.30 adding only time faults to her dressage score after jumping a double clear. The Championship was won by Andrew Nicholson riding Avebury on a score of 38.50.

Chilham Castle Horse Trials near Canterbury saw Jock Paget return to competition on top form with three out of four horses winning their classes.

Clifton Dickara won the Novice with a score of 26.90, 12 points ahead of the rider in second place.

Angus Blue jumped a double clear and added only 4.0 XC time penalties to his dressage score to finish on 30.50.

Jock finished the Open Novice on his dressage score, an amazing 19.00, and was clear and within the time both in the Showjumping and across country riding Chequers Play the Game. Tim Boland was the closest rider in the class to Jock’s score with 30.80.

Jock’s other ride, Zazu, was 11th in the BE100.

Sussex based Sam Penn took a string of horses to this popular event with success across the classes. Taking 2nd place in the BE100, 7th in the Novice and 4th in the Open Novice.

Sam added four XC time penalties to her dressage score of 26.00 to finish on 30.00 in the BE 100 riding Gloris Flight finishing only 2 faults behind winner Caroline Powell.

In the Novice, Sam took 7th place riding First Impression IV with a dressage score of 30.5, 12.0 Showjumping faults and and 5.6 XC time penalties to finish on 48.10.

Riding Pusiden, Sam added only 4.8 XC time penalties to her dressage score to finish on 33.30 which gave her 4th place in the Open Novice behind winner Jock and Tim Boland taking both 2nd and 3rd.

Showjumping

Trevor Breen and Adventure de Kannan (pictured) added to their list of triumphs by winning The Templant Events Queen Elizabeth II Cup at the Royal International Horse Show, Hickstead. Fresh from their Hickstead Derby win, Trevor and his one-eyed wonder horse Adventure de Kannan (Addy) owned by Karen Swann was one of six riders to jump clear into the jump off. Even though Trevor took a longer route than some of the other riders in the jump-off he still managed to take the win with a time of 43.20 seconds, only 0.05 seconds quicker than second place rider Robert Whitaker riding USA Today.

In France, the talented young showjumper Daniel Neilson took second place in the Royan 3* Grand Prix De La Ville De Royan riding Varo M, a 12 year old KWPN chestnut owned by Stacey Wilsone . Dan had one of only seven double clears and missed out on the top spot by just 0.75 seconds with the win going to German rider Marc Bettinger on Bacardi.

Dressage

Two of our newer sponsored riders, Daisy Coakley and Jo Hamilton, received their qualifications for The British Dressage National Championships in September.

Jo, who is based in Scotland competed in the Advance Medium Open at The Cabin EC, Inveruie with Corchapin, a seven year old KWPN owned by Lady Mary Hope. Jo and Corchapin won the class with a score of 70.26% which means they have qualified to compete at the nationals.

Daisy Coakley obtained her qualification at The College Equestrian Centre, Keysoe, riding Show Off in the Novice Open with a score of 70.86%. Show Off is a six year old mare owned by Judy Firmston-Williams and came third in the class. Daisy also rode Show Off in the Elementary class and rode Cleopatra II in the Medium Open, however missed out on qualification but Daisy was pleased with how they both performed.

Image: Trevor Breen and Addy at RIHS 2014. credit: Samantha Lamb www.samanthalamb.co.uk