Para riders threw down the gauntlet at Bishop Burton College, the Yorkshire venue hosting the first of the 2015 Winter Regionals, with Jane Lishman winning the KBIS prelim with Lordana TG and ‘Bert’ Sheffield, the Spillers restricted medium freestyle with Double Agent.
Jane is a Grade II rider following an accident in 2004 in which she was dragged by a horse and lost both legs, one above and one below the knee. Before the accident Jane had show jumped to Grade C level and point-to-pointed but it was three years before she was back in the saddle after her accident and that was through the Unicorn, her local RDA Centre in Cleveland.
“If anyone told me I’d be doing dressage and enjoying it I’d have never believed them,” said Jane whose sights are set on a 3* and a promotion to World Class this year.
Lordana was originally imported as a broodmare but failed to grow. Under saddle she started her competition career in the eventing field before being bought by Jane last summer.
“She did a lovely test today but what is exciting is there is plenty more to come,” said Jane who trains with Conor Bangham and Becky Moody.
Bert rides for Canada and was on their WEG team last year. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis as a 15-year-old but that didn’t stop her being apprenticed to Gareth Hughes for two years followed by stints with Arthur Kottas and Conrad Schumacher and a year in Canada.
“It was Gareth who pushed me to try for the Paras and I’d love to get to Rio,” said Bert.
Double Agent was bred by Morgan Equine and is a full sister to advanced eventer Detective II ridden by Carrie Byrom.
Bert first saw a photo of the Donnersohn/Pascal mare as a foal but she’d already been sold. Fast forward twelve months and the mare was back on the market after the original purchaser, having paid a deposit never went through with the transaction.
“I was delighted and bought her over the phone on my Mastercard,” revealed Bert. “In fact, I have to admit I’ve just done it again and bought a two-year-old from them by Sir Caprimond out of ‘Darcy’s’ granny!”
David Drake and his impressive CHAPS graded stallion Cilbarra My Big Boy won the restricted section of both the Equitop Myoplast elementary restricted and the PDS elementary freestyle restricted. The seven-year-old is Clydesdale/Irish cob with the flowing hair to match.
“I bought him as a youngster with the intention of showing him,” explained David.
It was this blemish that saw the switch to dressage.
“It was a bit of a what do we do now situation as he couldn’t do his planned job and it was Caroline Saynor who said bring him down and have a lesson and I can’t sing her praises her enough,” added David. “I can’t sing the horse’s praises enough either – he’s so trainable and we’re learning together.”
Cara Shardlow fulfilled her dream of winning a regional title in the Charles Owen advanced medium restricted with her Demonstrator son Detonator II.
The nine-year-old is well named having fired Cara into the ground the first time she rode him having got him home.
“I saved up for about four years to buy a horse, saw him advertised and went to look at him on my birthday,” said Cara who trains with Becky Moody. “He’s not a world-beater and he hasn’t always been easy but he is my horse of a lifetime and winning was a huge thrill.”
After seeing so many of her pupils in the ribbons Becky Moody proceeded to secure herself a title in the Magic Prix St Georges freestyle riding Dee Parker’s KWPN mare Tirsa.
“She is such an inspirational little mare to have,” said Becky. “She’s not a mega moving and is quite small but she makes up for it with a fantastic attitude. We’ll stick to small tour for the moment with maybe an inter II by the end of the year as she is well on the way to grand prix.”
The Blue Chip novice restricted and Baileys novice restricted freestyle both went the way of Jack Wainwright whose 16th birthday present Dark Bacardi gave him an 18th birthday to remember.
“He was bred by my trainer Julie Blanchard and I did ride him a couple of times when he came up for sale but I was told we couldn’t afford him,” recalled Jack. “On my birthday we were supposed to be going out for a meal but we had to drop a rug off at Julie’s (my parents have a rug cleaning business) and we called in and there was Dark Bacardi all plaited up and with a happy 16th birthday scarf round his neck!”
Erin Williams rode her mother Clare’s Waverly into the top spot in the Charles Owen advanced medium open. The former broodmare is a late-comer to dressage but has wasted no time and Erin is aiming her at Juniors this year.
“It’s been a real learning curve of late as loads of snow has meant we’ve been limited to indoors in a small arena,” said Erin. “She’s 17.1hh and it has really made me ride into the corners, in fact it’s been really good for my riding. After that I couldn’t believe how much room there was in the arena at Bishop Burton, which I must give a huge thumbs up to. Everyone was so friendly and helpful and the surfaces in the working-in and test arena were superb. In fact has to be one of the best weeks ever, I passed my driving test on Thursday and then came up here and won-what more could you want!”
Eight years ago Lisa Megginson picked out a foal by Breitling out of a Lauries Crusador mare off a video shown to her by her trainer Hannah Esberger-Hancock. He was bold with that little bit of something about him and he caught Lisa’s eye. Now nine and named Breit Crusader he scored his biggest win to date in the Albion medium restricted.
“I like to buy youngsters but he was the first foal I’ve bought,” said Lisa. “I couldn’t afford bloodlines like that as a four-year-old so I took a chance. I broke him in myself and we’re aiming at advanced later in the year.”
Against the odds Patsy Bartram and her home-bred gelding Pro Diversico won the PDS elementary open freestyle. The seven-year-old, by Pro-Set out of Patsy’s mare Venstream Gazelle who competed successfully to intermediaire II level, had an operation to remove a bone chip last year and ended up suffering from toxic laminitis.
“Considering at one point it didn’t look like he would pull through so to even get here was a result and to win was the icing on the cake,” said Patsy.
Former top lot from the Brightwells Sale, Believe In Me won the Blue Chip Novice Open for Lindsay Poxon. The Belissimo M/Weltmeyer gelding was bought eighteen months ago.
“It was the least amount of time I’ve ever ridden a horse I’ve bought,” said Lindsay who trains with Ferdi Eilberg. “It was a matter of a few minutes, I walked, trotted and cantered on one rein and that was me sold on him. He’s more than anything I’ve ever ridden and is the horse of a lifetime-the best buy ever!”
Beth Barnett went home to Hereford laden with prizes following wins in the Albion open medium and Spillers open medium freestyle with Zantino II and in the Nupafeed advanced medium freestyle with Sheepcote Delight (pictured above) who was winning the fourth regional championship of her career.
Of the remaining two classes, the Baileys Novice Restricted Freestyle went to Darren Kaye with Lordships Delusion. The gelding was in fine form last year representing the East Yorkshire Riding Club at the Riding Club National Championships.
The final winner was Laura Newton whose win in the Equitop Myoplast Elementary Open came with Zilverstroom whose BD record is exemplary, 26 tests resulting in 18 wins, 3 seconds and a third!
Click here for full results (scroll down the page for class by class).
Photo - www.kevinsparrow.co.uk
Winners
KBIS Prelim Northern Regional Championship
Jane Lishman riding Lordana TG 72.56
Blue Chip Novice Open Northern Regional Championship
Lindsay Poxon riding Believe In Me 72.99
Blue Chip Novice Restricted Northern Regional Championship
Jack Wainwright riding his own Dark Bacardi 69.94
Equitop Myoplast Elementary Open Northern Regional Championship
Laura Newton riding Zilverstroom 70.42
Equitop Myoplast Elementary Restricted Northern Regional Championship
David Drake riding his own Cilbarra My Big Boy 70.57
Albion Medium Open Northern Regional Championship
Beth Barnett riding Zantino II 72.75
Albion Medium Restricted Northern Regional Championship
Lisa Megginson riding her own Breit Crusader 67.66
Charles Owen Advanced Medium Open Northern Regional Championship
Erin Williams riding Clare Williams’s Waverly 72.85
Charles Own Advanced Medium Restricted Northern Regional Championship
Cara Shardlow riding her own Detonator II 70.61
Baileys Novice Open Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Jack Wainwright riding his own Dark Bacardi 74.17
Baileys Novice Restricted Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Darren Kaye riding Lordships Delusion 72.87
PDS Saddles Elementary Open Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Patsy Bartram riding her own Pro Diversico 74.29
PDS Saddles Elementary Restricted Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
David Drake riding his own Cilbarra My Big Boy 72.05
Spillers Medium Open Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Beth Barnett and Zantino II 74.28
Spillers Medium Restricted Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Bert Sheffield and Double Agent 69.78
Nupafeed Advanced Medium Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Beth Barnett and Sheepcote Delight 76.33
Magic Prix St Georges Freestyle Northern Regional Championship
Becky Moody riding Dee Parker’s Tirsa 75.83