Festival Features: Proud Progress

Following the conclusion of the 2025 Petplan Winter Area Festivals , BD members Rachael and Jodie share their experiences; read their stories of buying and producing young horses, setting exciting goals and enjoying the Area Festival experience!  

Pictured above Rachael Lawer and Penriw Dream Catcher © SLR Photography 

Rachael Lawer and her stunning mare Penriw Dream Catcher competed at Beacons Equestrian’s Petplan Winter Area Festival, where the received a great score of 66.03% from the three judges and placed eighth  in the Prelim Bronze.  

Rachael has been on an inspiring journey with her mare, having bought her unseen as a five-year-old from a friend of a friend. “Having been out of the saddle for several years due to the injury and subsequent retirement of my first horse, I wanted something indestructible and safe that I could get out on and enjoy riding again,” she said about Squiggle ,as she is known at home, who didn’t initially fit that mould , “early miscommunications gave us some teething issues. However, once we'd found a common language and learned to trust and respect each other, I quickly discovered that Squiggle would put her heart and soul into anything you ask of her.” 

Squiggle already had her own story to tell at only five-year-old Racheal shares, “she had kissing spine surgery before I bought her, so originally we started schooling as I wanted to ensure she developed strength in a way which was going to support her topline.” Early success at unaffiliated dressage competitions sparked a competitive flame inside of Rachael and began the two of them on their dressage journey. 

Competing over the winter months can often be a challenge, and  Rachael explained that she had to go out and “do the double” and compete over the last weekends of December in order to get the scores they needed, “despite the added pressure Squiggle rose to the occasion and produced our highest qualifying scores to date over that weekend! I was incredibly proud of her” Rachael tell us.  

Leading up to the Winter Area Festival also provided its own challenges for the duo, Rachael sadly lost her father in January and bouts of a horrible flu virus for Racheal herself, meant Squiggle’s fitness wasn’t as optimum as it could have been heading to the event. But Rachael shares, “as my dad would have said, it's all character building and without the challenges we wouldn't have developed the resilience needed to succeed.” 

One of Rachael’s aims heading into the competition was to finish in the top ten, which the fantastic duo were able to achieve. Reflecting on this Rachael said, “it was massively rewarding to finish in the top ten having put all the hard work in. When I first competed at an Area Festival it felt like such an achievement just having qualified to be there, and I’d looked at prize winners from my class in awe. To look back now and realise we've achieved what had once seemed like something achieved only by super talented horses with exceptionally skilled riders, is an incredible feeling. I'm not sure I could be any prouder if we'd won an Olympic medal!” 

Rachael’s experience at the Winter Area Festival was different to some of their usual competitions she explains, “Squiggle is a sensitive soul and tends to shut down in new environments so I usually struggle to ride her forward and get her to open up in the first half of the test, particularly tests like Prelim 5 which have a lot of trot work in the first half.” However, at Beacons Equestrian Rachael describes the 11-year-old as “beautifully responsive from the moment we entered the arena which was particularly rewarding as it meant we got to show off the trot work we've been producing at home and the marks showed that what had previously been our weakness had now become a strength.” Reflecting on her favourite moment of the test Racheal shares, "it was cantering round the corner and down the long side towards E. Squiggle felt perfectly uphill and balanced and I had one of those wonderful moments where you feel like you can just sit there for a split second and let the feeling sink in. I think I even managed to look up and smile!”  

Rachael's husband was there to support her on the day, providing another memory to cherish of the experience, “another fantastic moment was telling my husband that I had both good and bad news, the good news was that I'd achieved my goal and been placed in the top 10, the bad news (for him) was that this meant I was in the prize giving and we'd have to wait a bit longer before packing up and going home. Fortunately, he quickly forgave me when I produced a portion of cheesy chips and a cup of tea which we enjoyed whilst sitting in the sun waiting for the prize giving.”  

Now the combination has achieved their dream of finishing in the top ten at Prelim Bronze level, Rachael explains how they are now ready to step up to Novice but would now love to strive towards qualifying for the Petplan Area Festival Championships! “These seem like far flung dreams currently but then, a couple of years ago, so did everything we've achieved so far, so anything is possible. I'm also very tempted to have a go at some freestyle classes so, watch this space you might see us 'squiggling down the centre line' to music in the future!”  

Pictured above Jodie Coombes and Tom © Jasmine Punter Photography 

Jodie Coombes and her lovely horse Tom headed to their first ever Petplan Area Festival this winter at Moreton Equestrian. The bay gelding seemed to take it all in his stride Jodie explains, “It was a great first experience for Tom and I, the show was very well run and super friendly. Tom loved showing off all our hard work, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere!” 

The fabulous duo have only been BD members for a few months, and managed to qualify for both the Prelim Silver and the Novice Bronze. It’s an incredible achievement to qualify for an Area Festival, but away from dressage, having produced him herself, Jodie and Tom also event and show jump, showing that they are a multi-talented combination!  

Tom is a rising 8-year-old Irish Sports Horse by Arkan and out of Tattygare Golden Delight. Jodie purchased him in January of 2021 as an unseen rising 4-year-old from the Tattygare Stud in Ireland. Jodie describes him as, “a cheeky, fun loving boy with a big personality.”  

Jodie chose to give BD and the Area Festival series a go having competed at British Eventing competitions for the majority of last season as she explains, “I really wanted to improve our dressage scores so I decided to join British Dressage, over winter we have worked hard to improve our accuracy, relaxation and fluency.” All of which will be really beneficial when their eventing season begins again. Jodie also has the support of her mom who has competed at BD events herself, “she has been a huge help with our flatwork” Jodie tells us.  

Choosing to compete at Moreton Equestrian for their first ever Area Festival because it was local to them, Jodie explains, “it is also a lovely place.” It a special experience Jodie describes, “I was very much looking forward to the bigger atmosphere and I knew the judging would give us a really good idea of how to improve more so. We loved it and we came away with 11th place.” 

Jodie and Tom also headed to Prestige Equestrian to compete in the Novice Bronze again, sharing her experience at their second Area Festival Jodie explains, “it was our first ever time visiting Prestige and it was quite a big and busy atmosphere for Tom to take in.” The weather on the day was also not on their side, but despite all of this Jodie shares how impressed she was with how well Tom dealt with the new experience, “he was a little cautious when we first entered the warm up but he soon settled and worked really well.”  

Looking back on their second Novice test at an Area Festival Jodie shares, “his transition into canter was nice, it could have done with a bit more impulsion but we’ve been working really hard on his self carriage so I didn’t want to cause him to drop down on the hand, sadly this meant we broke in the counter canter.” Despite this small error in their Jodie explains there were so lovely moments in their test, “he did make a super effort in his medium trot, which is something we have been working very hard on, overall I was just incredibly proud of Tom, he was faultless all day, I just let us down by not asking enough in the canter.” The duo are now already looking ahead and planning their road to the Summer Area Festivals following the great experience they have had this winter.