THE South East Region of Dressage Ireland held a well-attended show on Monday at Spruce Lodge, where it clouded over after a bright start to the day but did remain dry.

Following her recent accident, it was good to see Bernie Foley (List 2a) officiating as one of five judges at this show. She eased into her duties in the early afternoon, when just Isla Coad rode the FEI Pony individual test before her on Klein Roderijs Gold Fee (68.57%). In the team test, judged by Vida Tansey (List 1), locally-based Coad and Josephine Delahoyde’s nine-year-old Veenstras Grapjas mare scored 68.38.

Foley also judged the two-runner Prix St George, won by Aine Ryan on her nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Leejoy (69.85%), and awarded a score of 63.97 to Lydia Dawson and her 15-year-old chesnut gelding Clonswords Alf, the only combination to come before her in the Advanced Medium BD91. Dawson and Clonswords Alf saw off their sole rivals to win the second Advanced Medium class, the Tansey-judged BD98, on 67.89.

At Medium level, there were four starters in both classes and the same winner, Gilly Crawford who, on her own Irish Sport Horse mare Majestic Heartbreaker, an eight-year-old bay by Womanizer, scored 68.94% in the Foley-judged BD69 and 66.89 in the Tansey-assessed BD75.

Two combinations came before Tansey in the Grand Prix, where her winner was Sorrell Klatzko and Elisabeth Ahn-Ballies’s 12-year-old British Warmblood gelding Rock My Heart EA (67.72%), while there were uncontested victories before the same judge for Sean Burgess and Anita Kelly’s 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Imperioso W.W. (65.15) in the Inter I and for Kate Kerr Horan and the 13-year-old Anglo European mare Serafina T (68.17) in the Grade III Para test.

Foley had her longest session at Elementary level, where there were 12 starters in the DI55 won by Elaine Potter with Gael Sallam’s ISH mare Leestone Darco Breaker (70%), an 11-year-old daughter of Darco. Paula Geiger (List 3) judged the BD59, where Rachel Dowley recorded a comprehensive victory on board her own Dutch Warmblood mare GFL Nava (68.59), a For Romance six-year-old.

Sorrell Klatzko and Rock My Heart EA won the Grand Prix class at Spruce Lodge \ Louise O’Brien Photography

Elementary

Geiger judged six starters in that Elementary class, but was faced by 19 combinations in the first of the Novice classes, the DI27A, where her overall winner on 70.34% was Cael Shanahan riding Suzanne Kendrick’s ISH gelding Silverdyke Diamond, a 15-year-old grey by My Paddys Clover. Jillie Rogers (List 3) judged the 17-runner BD39 in the indoor arena, where she awarded the day’s highest score (74.42) to Charlotte Clear and her ISH gelding Ramesses B, a 14-year-old bay by Ramiro B.

Rogers started her day outdoors at Arena 2, where her winner of the 14-runner Preliminary BD19 was Bee Sykes on her Hanoverian gelding Con Caballito (73.54%), a 13-year-old dark bay son of Christ.

Rita Naughton dominated the 13-strong DI6 judged by Vicky Cloney (List 6). The South East Region committee member won on her Oldenburg mare Action’s Bond Girl W (73.46), a seven-year-old Nicole Weber-bred daughter of Action Blue, and finished second on that bay’s year-younger Dembele L half-sister Diamant’s Babalou. The pair are out of the Balou Du Rouet mare Baluba.

Cloney also judged the four Trailblazer classes, where her winners were Elle Jordan and Rotherwood Springtime (67.17%) in the four-runner Under 10s’ class, Louisa Dalton who saw off sole rivals to claim both the Under 12s (68.16) and Novice (68.06) classes on board Frosthill Jackaroo and Mai Donovan who recorded an uncontested victory in the Preliminary 1 for 12 to 16-year-olds with Crows Grove Nelly (65.53).