Horse & Hound – 08 August 2019

46 Horse&Hound8 August 2019

Pictures by JUMA Photography

DRESSAGE

THECABINECSUMMER

REGIONALCHAMPIONSHIPS

2-4 August

TheCabinECSummerRegional

Championships,Aberdeen

ROBYNSMITHwasa double

winner,claimingtheprixst

georges(PSG)andachievinga

personalbestscoreof72.06%in

theinterI withFrancesco77.

SincewinningthePSG

nationaltitleatBolesworthand

competingintheinternational

smalltouratHartpuryCDI,

Robynhasspentsometime

goingbacktobasicswiththe

11-year-oldblackstallion

(Florenciox SandroHit).

“MumandI spenta fewweeks

workingonhimbeingsoftand

supple.Heis usuallyfreshforthe

first 20 minutesinthewarm-up,

andasI walkeddowntothearena

I feltit wasn’tgoingtoplan—he

wasveryfreshandI wasn’tsure

howit wouldgo.

“Theplanwentoutthe

windowandI thoughtI’djust

havetomakethebestofwhatI

had.However,I couldn’tbelieve

it whenhewentintothearena

andjustsaid‘Let’sgo’.Hewas

justincredible,”saidRobyn,a

Horsescotlandperformancerider.

“HisinterI testwasamazing;

therewasa markedimprovement

inthewarm-up,althoughhefelt

a littletiredafterhiseffortin

thePSG,butthiswasthemost

rideablehe’sbeen.He’sbeen

strongtorideandonThursday

[bittingconsultant]MaryWastie

changedhisbitfroma loosering

witha lozengetoaneggbuttwith

a lozenge,andI feltI couldride

himmorepositively.”

JoBarryclaimedthreetitles

fromhertwohorses,allwith

plus-70%.HidalgoII,a Rousseau

seven-year-oldgeldingco-owned

withLadyMaryHope,headeda

strongelementarygold,sharing

thetopscorewithNickyHeale

andFurstinclairewiththe

placingsbeingsplitbycollectives.

Hidalgo also took the medium

Aback-to-basics

approachpaysoff

forRobynSmith,

whileJoBarry

claimsthreewins

with two horses

title,wherejust1%splitthetop

threeriders.ToroundoffJo’s

successfulweekend,Gordon

Grainger’sBelissimox Jazzeight-

year-oldGoofyLaPerleclaimed

theadvancedmediumgold.

Hidalgo,knownas

“Humphrey”athome,wasbought

inuterowithhisDonnerhalldam.

“Humphreyhasalwaysbeen

theganglyteenagerandhasa

powerfulbackend;I feelhe’s

nowstartingtogettogripswith

hissize.Hewasverykeenand

feltgoodabouthimselfinthe

elementaryandI didn’twant

toupsettheboat,soourtest

wasaboutdamagelimitation,”

explainedJo,whois alsoa

Horsescotlandperformance

squad rider.

ByMELANIESCOTT

Smith scoops a brace of wins

‘Histestwasamazing’:

RobynSmithand

Francesco 77 topthe

interI witha personal

best of 72.06%

GoofyLaPerle

landstheadvanced

mediumgold—one

ofthreetitles for

Jo Barry