Festival Focus - Bicton Arena
Bicton Arena Summer Area Festival saw more incredible combinations qualify for the Petplan Summer Championships, as well as some fiercely fought classes and really rewarding experiences for our competitors.
Katherine Donovan and Doylan Anastasia’s Gift travelled to Bicton Arena to compete in their first ever Area Festival, and finished an amazing sixth place in the Novice Silver, with a score of 67.85%. Katherine tells us, “leading up my first Area Festival I was very apprehensive as I had no idea what to expect, however once I arrived at Bicton the atmosphere was so wonderful my nerves disappeared very quickly.” After putting in the hard work to qualify and “getting to ride down the centre line felt like a massive achievement” Katherine continues.
The overall experience was “really enjoyable” but Katherine tells us it is even more so coming away with a great result, “after spending so long preparing myself and Annie to do the best we could it was so rewarding.”
Katherine’s dressage dream started at a very young age, “probably like many riders I was inspired at a young age by the beauty of dressage and dreamed of being able to compete at a big event and the Petplan Area Festivals feels like a step towards achieving that dream.”
Describing their test on the day Katherine shares, “it was one of my favourite tests to ride that I’ve ever done with her so far! She was so easy and responsive to everything I asked of her.” With one of the highlights being, “I loved her medium trot work which we’ve spent quite a bit of time working on at home and came away with our highest scores yet for it.”
Annie, as the skewbald mare is otherwise known, was brought by Katherine’s family as an unbroken three-year-old in 2016, “my sister backed her and rode her on for a bit then in 2021 I started riding and schooling Annie myself.” The start of their partnership together didn’t include doing dressage, “however I’ve always been interested in trying to school a horse for the dressage arena and Annie has such a fantastic and trainable temperament it made my life easy” Katherine explains. The combination competed at their first affiliated dressage test in December of 2023 and have carried on competing throughout 2024.
Katherine and Annie were heading back to Bicton for a BD Summer Regional and then plan to head to their local BD venues throughout the remainder of the year to compete at Elementary level, and Katherine states she will also “hopefully be having a go at a few medium tests too.”
Sydney Kedge and Luna X won the Novice Bronze class at Bicton Arena Summer Area Festival, finishing top of the scoresheets with an impressive score of 68.82%. Sydney shares with us her the preparation she has been doing before heading down the centre line, “Luna and I have been working on being nice and relaxed as we enter the arena, (me especially) but she gave me so much confidence and produced a lovely test.”
The bay mare impressed the judges, Sydney tells us, “obviously there is much more to come but for a very hot-headed inexperienced mare it’s taken a lot to get her to where she is now, particularly as i’m not very experienced myself and we have learnt together.” While training at home and out competing Sydney states Luna attitude towards her work is “exceptional” Although she was expecting showjumping and cross country to follow her test at Bicton, as eventing is her main phase!
Their partnership has grown as they have “been working on being a team and keeping it very simple, but to be able to see that our hard work is paying off is the most amazing feeling! It’s taken a lot for us to get where we are now but we plan on taking it very slow and teaching her as much as I can while also learning myself.”
“I knew she was the mare for me” Sydney gushes, “we bought her two years ago having had no experience but it was love at first sight.” The journey however has not been easy, “she suffered an injury to her knee a couple of months after we took her home. It was a difficult time for all of us, but also as we had built such a bond in such a short amount of time, there was a week where I thought i would lose my heart horse, so sharing our first big win in dressage together really meant the world to my family and I. It’s been such an emotional journey together, but I couldn’t imagine a better place and event to experience it, thank you for the opportunity!”
The Area Festivals have been perfect for the pair to gain more experience and enjoy dressage, “the thing I love the most about the Petplan Area Festivals is how inclusive the atmosphere is, everyone is so lovely, supportive and kind. It’s an ideal event to take inexperienced young horses or top horses, we will definitely be back!”