The RDA National Championships had over 450 competitors, including riders from all of the charity’s 18 regions across the UK. The flagship event held at Hartpury College, is now bigger than the Paralympics and Para World Championships combined with Paralympic stars and celebrities in attendance.
In the Dressage Competitions the four Senior Riders all had great success: Susan Wilcox came 6th in the walk/trot and 3rd in the RDA Freestyle riding Louistic De Sie: Jane Lishman came 12th in the RDA Dressage Grade II and 4th in the RDA Freestyle riding Murphy II, Marianne Coutes came 4th in the RDA Dressage to Music and 2nd in the Grade 4 test riding Geisha, Laura Forbes came 9th in the RDA walk/trot on Louistic De Sie.
Junior riders also did well: Alice King on Murphy II came 17th in the RDA Dressage Grade III
Fiona Bennet on Paddy came11th in the Grade III and 5th in the RDA Freestyle
Sian Floyd on Murphy II came 4th in the Grade III and
Jamie Gargett on Geisha II came 7th in the Grade III
Unfortunately Daisy Appleton fell off her pony and was disqualified.
Tracy Green and Lorraine Dobson also competed in the Regional Countryside Challenge Team and were 2nd overall – a great result!
In the Countryside Challenge four riders from the Centre took part: Lorraine Dobson coming 3rd, Tracy Green (pictured) and Grace Turner coming fourth in their sections and Kate Telford 9th.
The team’s fantastic victory followed months of training and success in the regional qualifiers and continues the high standard Unicorn Centre is now achieving at national level.
The riders were accompanied to Hartpury by their families and friends, five horses, three instructors and a team of volunteers. Yard Manager Heidi Hutchinson said, “All the riders worked so hard and performed way above our expectations. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed to their success, particularly dressage clinic coaches Kay Brandon and Felicity Evens who spent many hours coaching the dressage team.”
She continued, “The team has proved that they can consistently achieve good results and they are a credit to the Unicorn Centre. We hope that they will benefit enormously from this and that some will go on to perform at international level one day.”
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