Other stars of the weekend were three riders who have been great friends through RDA for over 20 years, Susan Wilcox and Nick Walton won championships in their dressage classes both riding Louistic de Sei, and Joel Fitzpatrick who came second on Noah in the Countryside Challenge.
Senior dressage riders and veterans of Hartpury Jane Lishman on Maidendale Grenadier (2nd & 5th) , Marion Coutts on Geisha (3rd), Jamie Gargett on Geisha (2nd) and on Noah (4th), and Fiona Bennett on Noah (3rd and 7th) all had an extremely successful weekend, with junior Lucy Akbudak coming 2nd on Louistic de Sei in dressage and 2nd on Murphy 1 in the Countryside Challenge. Junior Alice King came 2nd on in her class also riding Louistic de Sei.
With over 780 entries this year, The RDA National Championships included 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.
Team Unicorn’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, “Team Unicorn 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 experience and that some will go on to perform at international level one day.”
For further information about the Unicorn Centre or to make a donation, please call 01642 576222 or www.rdaunicorncentre.co.uk or visit BTMyDonate.