Petplan Summer Area Festival Championships and Middle Tour Championships, Arena UK, Lincs
“HE’S made all my dreams come true,” remarked Chelsea Donovan after her 12-year-old, home-bred gelding Frankie Zenturio won both the freestyle elementary silver and freestyle medium bronze Area Festival Summer Championships titles with plus-70%.
Chelsea owns a riding school and is a mother of two, and admits she is new to medium.
“We’ve been working hard on our training, so to get to the finals was a huge achievement,” she said. “To win was incredible – I was gobsmacked.”
Competing at the Home Nations a few weeks earlier helped to keep “Frank” relaxed at Arena UK.
“It definitely helped to prepare him, as sometimes he can be a bit ‘looky’, but we did the arena walks and he did everything I asked – it was quite emotional,” added Chelsea. “He had a little ‘yee-ha’ moment in the medium, so still to get that score was amazing.
“My elementary music is quite dramatic with a Star Wars compilation, and for the medium music we had a violin version of Ed Sheeran and Rihanna, to which I enjoy riding.”
Chelsea’s aim is to do an advanced medium by the end of the year, with the ultimate goal to ride in tailcoats and do a prix St Georges.
Versatile gelding Lotus Key showcased his talent between the whiteboards to land the elementary freestyle bronze on 71.67% with Kate Johnston.
“I bought him from Andrew Saywell as a two-year-old and produced him and brought him on myself,” said Kate.
“He is so stunning that I fell in love with him instantly. He gets bored doing just dressage, so we do a bit of everything – he has qualified for Horse of the Year Show as a working hunter as well as the Blue Chip Showjumping Championships.”
Kate has only recently taken up dressage to music.
Denne historien er fra October 17, 2024-utgaven av Horse & Hound.
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Denne historien er fra October 17, 2024-utgaven av Horse & Hound.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Understanding What Affects Acceptance of Equestrian Sport - New large-scale research is aimed at digging deeper into what goes into forming public opinion.
New World Horse Welfare research involving more than 5,000 people has aimed to distil what drives public acceptance in horse sports.The project, supported by The Racing Foundation, moves the conversation around public acceptance forward.World Horse Welfare CEO Roly Owers presented the project at The Racing Foundation conference at Ascot racecourse on 2 October.
Mental Health Professional - Mike Delaney helped to introduce equine facilitated psychotherapy to the UK in 2004 and describes how this work feeds his soul besides benefiting people suffering following severe trauma
Mike Delaney helped to introduce equine facilitated psychotherapy to the UK in 2004 and describes how this work feeds his soul besides benefiting people suffering following severe trauma
Moonshine on best behaviour
The county of Cornwall fields a clutch of champions, while a veteran horse earns his 11th title
'My bone was shattered'
A working rider bouncing back from serious injury and a busy farmer are among those securing coveted Badminton tickets
Home-bred takes two
From Star Wars to Harry Styles, riders celebrate music victories, while one amateur has to move her office for the week - but the effort pays off
Genetic susceptibility
A certain number of inherited disorders are limited to specific breeds. Rebecca Hamilton-Fletcher MRCVS explains the what and why of such cases
Household Cavalry sculptor-in-residence
After years in a city job, Zoë Carmichael was destined to devote herself to the antique discipline of sculpture and immortalise her favourite subjects - horses - in bronze
'The change was refreshing to watch'
H&H's showing editor on the new judging format at HOYS 2024
Actions rather than words are needed for horse sport's future
The 2024 Racing Foundation conference considered how to help maintain public support
We must change worming habits before it is too late
New guidelines on worm control have been published to try to fight the growing threat of anthelmintic resistance
