Author: Marcus Bicknell

Dressage this morning was friendly and full of qualities… hacking down Narcot Lane for some and then negotiating a fallen tree, warming up in the arena just before one’s test, braving the quacking ducks and the silent black pussy cat and enjoying some hours out before the rain started. Thank you so much Jenien Cunningham and her merry band of helpers for organising, to Dawn Fleming for judging and to Shona Fraser for writing. It was a smaller field than usual, mainly because of the roadwork needed to hack there, but the standard of tests and the community spirit shone through. As we pass the half-way mark in our 7-event series, we have had over 100 entries and raised £1400. The updated series points table is at the bottom.

Get the results in an Excel spreadsheet here

The winners in the Intro Class were Emily Everitt in section A and overall, and Sky Collett in the Teen section. There were two competitors in the Prelim Class, one in A (inexperienced riders – Skye Collett) and one in B (open, Monique Millington) so they each got a 1st place rosette from Susie Bicknell’s Save-the-world Rosette-Recycyling initiative, and Skye, of course, got the Teen win. Marcus Bicknell won the Open Novice and Charlie Harper took Section A honours.

A special mention to Sarah Caley for coming on her huge 17h3 horse black Jack who has only been with her 10 days, and then doing her first dressage test ever, on any horse. Nick walked with Sarah from Dibden Hill… thanks. And Monique Millington did a long route all the way from Austens to Grove, leading Laika “The Ginge” down tricky Twitchells Lane and getting on for the rest of the way to do her first dressage test in 2 years.

I have updated the series standings and you can download them at the following MS Excel link. We have three classes each with two sections and the leaders are Charlotte Bodega, Nicky West, Mia Okuyama, Jaimi Roehrig, Lucy Butler and Charlotte Fleming (the same as after the last round, at Oldefields). The scoring was initially a plain average of scores including zeroes (for an event at which a rider did not compete) but that would have un-necessarily marked down a good rider who cannot do every event. We have therefore established rankings on the average of the points the rider scored when they competed plus a 1 percentage point bonus to incentivise riders to compete in as many rounds as possible. 4 rounds down, 3 to go. Please look at your series scores NOW and contact me with comments or errors… marcus@bicknell.com. Corrections can be made if you let us know within a month of the event (within a week of the penultimate event and within a day of the last event!). You can download the updated series points table here. I anticipate trophy and junior awards at the 21st birthday party 9th July.

Our next dressage event is at Highclere between St.Giles and Seer Green on Sunday 27 March. There are spaces available. Entry forms at …https://hodgemoor.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/hodgemoor_winter_dressage_series_2021-2_entry_form-rev-27Jan.docx