Festival Focus - Brook Farm
Around half-way through the Summer Area Festival Season, we headed to Brook Farm Training Centre to crown more Area Festival winners, as further incredible combinations claimed their golden ticket to the Area Festival Summer Championships.
Sarah Gadd and Wolkens Law finished an impressive third in the highly contested Preliminary Silver class at Brook Farm Summer Area Festival. Sarah spoke to us about her experience on the day, “It was a brilliant day. It was the first time I had been to Brook Farm, and it is somewhere I will definitely be going again. The team was very welcoming and helpful throughout the day, and the prize giving was great fun too.”
Having previously competed at the BD Regionals, Sarah chose to give the Area Festivals a go having, “heard from other people how much fun the Area Festivals” leading Sarah to feel this would be “the best route for my young horse at this stage in his career.” Roscoe displayed his talent in front of the judges, Sarah reflects, “I was very pleased with how my test went. Roscoe is really enjoying his dressage outings and keeps going better and better each time out. The scores we achieved from all 3 judges were very similar, which I was pleased with.” The combination also scoring a personal best on the day.
Sarah tells us that Roscoe is a homebred with incredible family ties, “he is the 3rd generation within my family, his mum was our first home bred.” Despite being an avid eventer at heart, Sarah explains, “I am starting to realise that Roscoe’s future may be better spent dancing in the white boards.” Talking about her dancing partner, “He is really quite a big horse already at just 5 years old, probably too big for me (I'm only 5 foot 2!) if I'm being honest but I'm so determined to continue to work together and see how far we can get.” Sarah has been a part of Roscoe’s journey since the beginning, “I backed Roscoe myself only a few months after giving birth to my little girl when he was 3 years old. With his size in mind, we have been taking it slowly and after doing a bit of everything last year as a 4-year-old, including a Burghley Young Event Horse Qualifier, I have decided to focus more on our dressage for the times being.”
“Being a homebred, he means a huge amount to me, and I feel we have a brilliant bond between us. When backing him, we didn't have any real schedule. I had a lovely lady, Sam Broadley, help me from on the ground a few times as my mum, Jane Gadd, wasn't up for helping due to Roscoe's size!” Sarah shares the early process of training in Roscoe’s career “we would do something for 2 days, and then he'd have a few days off before the next session but if anything this seemed to work well for him and having time to think about what he'd done seemed to suit him.” The gelding is known for being a bit of a worrier at times, but he takes so much reassurance from Sarah, which just shows their strong bond. “he is a very cheeky chappy, though, a real character in the yard and a bit of a yard favourite with a lot of people too.”
Looking towards the near future Sarah tells us that the two of them are also heading to Sheepgate Summer Area Festival, with the aim of moving one step further up on the podium, “it would be amazing to qualify for the Summer Championships.” However, “I won’t be putting too much pressure on us as each outing is something new for Roscoe and Speedgate will be another new venue for us so will we just go with the aim of having a good day out. My daughter, Ellie-Jane, absolutely loves watching me at competitions, which makes each day out really special.”
Caitlin Madden and Everybody Dance finished an impressive fourth place in the Preliminary Bronze and Brook Farm Summer Area Festival, in a competitive field of 40 combinations. They also finished the highest place U21 with an amazing score of, 69.93% from the three judges.
In preparation for the Summer Area Festival Caitlin tells us, “I practiced the test lots and picked apart all the weaknesses to work on.” Choosing to compete in the series because of it’s well known friendly and competitive environment, which Caitlin really enjoys. There were many highlights of the pairs test on the day, too many for Caitlin to choose one but she shares her favourite part was “reading the score sheets and seeing consistent 8s from the judges which is a massive improvement since I started riding Swayze back in 2023.”
Caitlin began her dressage journey in 2021, competing on a little cob in BD My Quest classes and even placing an incredible fourth at the Quest Championships. Since then Caitlin tells us, “I spent a whole year searching for a new horse after out growing the little cob Amy, and after almost giving up I was introduced to Swayze owned by Tessa Musgrove.” The stunning chestnut gelding stands at a huge 17hh, and together with Caitlin, the combination have competed at the U25 Championships in 2023 and the Inter County Challenge for team Norfolk, “we had some excellent results, placing third overall!”
Continuing to improve and enjoy their dressage journey Caitlin and Swayze are now hoping to step up to Novice and Elementary levels, “hopefully we will qualify for the Winter Area Festivals.”
Verena Howson and Figaro V achieved two podium finishes at Brook Farm Equestrian, achieving a 64.44% in the Advanced Medium, placing them third. Then going one better in the Medium, receiving a 67.55% from the judges and placing second in the class.
Only competing in the Area Festival series for the first time last year, Verena explains to us what she enjoys about the championship, “I love the concept that you are training towards a goal. You have got a season to compete and get valuable feedback from judges and can hopefully show off what you learned at an Area Festival at the end of the season.”
In preparation for the Area Festival, Verena tells us what her training at home consists of, “I always run through the test only once at home and during the training session I ride parts of the movements requested. Otherwise my horse knows what’s coming up in the test and that can be tricky sometimes. Training in general is lots of stretching and strengthening exercises, hacking and pole work. I also do lots of in hand training with tarpaulins, flowers, umbrellas to get him use to different distractions.” The day before the big competition the gorgeous gelding gets a “spa day” and a good clean up to make sure he is looking the part, Verena explains.
“I liked the atmosphere at Brook Farm” Verena shares, “my highlight in both test were the final centre line. The feeling when you know you did a great test and your horse was with you all the time.” Banana as he is otherwise known at home, “loves the attention and as very pleased with himself tasting the prosecco at the price giving afterwards, he knew he did a great job.”
Verena has owned Banana for four years, the then seven-year-old was very green and had only been under saddle for a couple of months, “I am very proud what we achieved so far together and competing successfully at Advanced Medium now.” Looking towards the future, “we are looking forward to the championships in October and train hopefully towards Prix St Georges over the winter months.”