Spring Twilight Dressage Series leaves riders wanting more
A quiet atmosphere and quality judges are making competing in the evening a big hit, with riders keen for more twilight series.
THE Spring Twilight Dressage Series run over four weeks at the Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre has been a favourite with competitors.
The series organiser, Joanne Lee-Archibald, said riders were already pleading for more series.
“With daylight saving, it gives people that work a chance to come down and compete in the evening and they have loved it.”
Each week of the four-part series featured different levels of competition and the quiet atmosphere plus quality judges meant there were many using them as a warm-up for the big, six-day Victorian Dressage Festival coming up on December 10-15.
Leading rider Maree Tomkinson had her first outing for several months, and while her two talented young horses had put in solid work at home during lockdown, competition away from home is very different. Her Furst Deluxe was judged as champion Advanced level winning one class and placing second in the other to his stablemate, Total Diva.
“Both ponies were super chill and very nice to ride in the tests and warm up. Mistakes in both tests but we are OK with that for now; we train for the future in GP not for this,’’ Tomkinson said.
Bella Plumridge’s Illawong Harvest Moon won the Prix St George test and young rider Jessica Dertell’s partnership with Eskara De Jeu continues to develop, with a win in the Inter 1 test.
Jason James continues to mix riding show horses with dressage and won both the elementary level tests and the championship with Total Zensation. Emerald Borgelt’s Grenwood Romeo did the same at medium level.
The buckskin pony, Mr Buck Meister, took the championship for Rosemary Heagney in novice level, and in the preliminary classes, a lot of riders usually seen in the show horse ring were testing their wings and doing well in the dressage arena. Gemma Nalder won one of the classes with Revelwood Fantasy. The other went to Maria Gleeson’s Sassica.
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