WEATHER conditions were anything but seasonal and name-appropriate as the Northern Region of Dressage Ireland held the third leg of its summer league last Sunday at Laurel View, where some high scores were recorded.

The highest of all was the 77.31%, which was awarded in the nine-runner Preliminary DI8 by Coreen Abernethy (List 4) to Courtney Akkari and her Hanoverian gelding Bernabeo. The Gransha Equestrian rider and her tall, chesnut son of Benicio achieved a score of 76.40 in the four-year-old class, where they were the only combination to appear before Vida Tansey (List 1).

Linda McIlwaine and her Irish Sport Horse gelding Roundthorn Oreo were the only starters in the five-year-old class, where Tansey awarded them a score of 71.60%. Before Abernethy in the Novice BD27, where there were 13 starters, McIlwaine and the Patricia Connon-bred Vittorio bay shared top spot on the overall leaderboard with Jaclyn Brackenridge and Cindy Cunningham’s 10-year-old appaloosa gelding Comanche Arrow, who had the better collective score (59 to 57).

A double was recorded at Elementary level by Katie Lowry and Sian Phillips’ Crosspoint Tobin. In the Abernethy-judged BD40, where they faced 14 rivals, Lowry and the 13-year-old Templehill Jasper grey scored 72.26%, while in the six-strong DI56A, judged by Tansey, they achieved a score of 69.52.

Ellen McDonald also struck twice, this time at Medium level with her father Jim’s 14-year-old FS Dont Worry gelding Dante Alighieri, comfortably seeing off two rivals in both Tansey-judged classes. In the BD76, McDonald and the chesnut scored 70.91% while, in the DI67, they scored 67.73. Second in the first of those classes on 64.85, Denise Kelly Rice and Pamela Wilson’s Westphalian mare Forvanna were the only starters before the same judge in the seven-year-old class, where they earned a mark of 70.80.

Second (70.32%) in the BD40 to Kate Lowry and Crosspoint Tobin, Eve Adair and the 13-year-old piebald mare Dot topped Tansey’s scores on 69 in the second Novice class, the DI24A in which there were 12 starters.

Claire Ewing (List 5) judged four classes, including the two-runner Intro won by Holly McCandless on Sir Max (66.30%) and the eight-strong Preliminary BD13, where the overall leaderboard was topped by Alexandra Ryan and the Connemara gelding, Ambition (71.35), an eight-year-old dun by Drumbad Fletcher Moss. Ewing’s two Trailblazer class winners were the sole contenders, Emily Robertson and Rachel Kinnaird’s Hillside Nicely Dun (63.70 in the Under 10s) and Emily Melvin with Ballygarris Robe (64.81 in the Under 12s).