I've ever 'He's the best ridden'

Dannie Morgan wins three national titles and the next generation of dressage stars rise to the occasion as one title goes down to the wire

DANNIE MORGAN'S exciting prospect Fever Tree (Foundation x Dayano) added both the Equi-Trek elementary gold and PDS Saddles elementary freestyle gold championships to his evergrowing collection of accolades.

The six-year-old gelding was bred by David Stone of Bow Lake Equestrian, where Dannie is based, and has now won 26 of his 29 outings and looks destined to reach the higher levels.

"He's the best horse I've ever sat on. I've never had one like him before, he gives me goosebumps," said Dannie. "I tried to show an interesting floorplan in the freestyle but there wasn't anything too technical - he has such a lovely way of going and is such a beautiful mover that I just try to present him in a nice way, and he makes my job very easy."

Dannie also won the Spillers medium freestyle gold aboard Kristina Rausing's seven-year-old mare Vive La Reinne VH.

"She's a super mare," said Dannie. "She's gained a lot of strength over time and is now so reliable in the arena, which meant I could go in there and take some risks with the floorplan." Dannie now has 17 national titles to his name but was denied another in the Horselight medium gold as Katie Bailey and Hannah Dovey and Verity Jenner’s nine-year-old gelding Escomond ended up on top.

That was Katie and Escomond’s second title of the championships, having also won the Equitex advanced medium gold on 73.07%..

Katie kick-started her dressage career riding for Carl Hester after her mother spotted an advertisement in Horse & Hound. Katie competed Carl’s late Olympic silver medallist Nip Tuck in the early stages of his career, taking him up the levels to Prix St Georges (PSG).

“The freestyle was a hot class so I’m really pleased,” said Katie. “He’s not done that much, so competition-wise this was quite the experience.