The Diamond Centre in Surrey hosted the first British Dressage para-equestrian ‘Intro Show’ on Sunday 3 November 2013, which was hailed a huge success by all who attended.
Open to riders of all ages who are classified Grades I-IV, the aim of this new competition is to help riders to ‘bridge the gap’ between riding with their local Riding for the Disabled centre and the British Dressage competition structure. The nature of the competition gives the riders the opportunity to ride a test twice on the day and get feedback from top level national and international para-equestrian judges.
On Sunday, those competing rode the FEI 2006 tests that have been adopted by British Dressage, with approval from the FEI and are the first level of tests used within the British Dressage competition framework.
Judge for the day, Waveney Luke commented; “This new initiative is a great idea as it will help riders to learn more about the importance of the ‘Scales of Training’ that we use to judge the classes with British Dressage and develop their understanding of how to improve their horse’s.”
Class winners, Linda Redmond and Tina Edwards both commented on how helpful it had been to ride the same test twice and get feedback from the judge to help them improve their scores. Tina added; “This was my first experience of competing in a British Dressage competition and I am very much looking forward to the next one in June”.
The youngest competitor of the day 15 year old Grade IV rider, Kristina Flexman, managed to increase her score in the afternoon class having had some helpful feedback from Waveney Luke. Kristina said afterwards; “I was quite nervous about competing today but now feel much more confident to start thinking about competing more and hopefully at other British Dressage shows.”
This new initiative has been developed as part of the 2013-2017 Excel funding from the National Lottery through Sport England to help increase participation and underpin the already established talent development programmes.
There are a further events planned for Spring/Summer 2014 in other England regions. More details can be found on the British Dressage website.