Festival Focus - Onley Grounds
It was a showstopper event at Onley Grounds Equestrian for their Summer Area Festival. Riders went down the centre line and showcased their hard work and dedication to the judges.
Lauren Lanik who finished second in the Novice Silver Freestyle on her own Sew N Sew, with an amazing score of 72.87% from the three judges, spoke to us about why she chose to compete in the Area Festival Series. “Having something to train and aim for all year round! I especially love the Summer series as the freestyle classes are so much fun. It is a great way to showcase yours and your horse’s personalities whilst strutting your stuff in between the white boards! Lots of our friends also compete all over the country in the Area Festivals so it’s great to cheer them on and support each other.”
On the lead up to the combinations Summer Area Festival at Onley Grounds Equestrian, Lauren tells us that she tries to continue Mega’s routine as much as possible, “still taking her out hacking and schooling at home but we also squeezed in some arena hires and training sessions with our coach to practice and polish up our test movements! I also arranged for my coach to remotely warm us up on the day of the competition which was fab!”
Lauren and Mega also finished in 7th place in the Novice Silver, some of the highlights of the pairs tests on the day were, “receiving four 8’s for our Novice Silver freestyle across the three judges! Our free walk on a long rein scored 8’s from all three judges and we got another for our medium walk from the judge at E! Really lovely comments from all judges too remarking on our partnership.” Lauren explained to us the reasons behind her freestyle music choice, “I am a big Disney fan, it’s the kind of music that always brings a smile to your face. I have worked with Natalie Porter for all of our music choices, and she’s been great for helping identify which tracks suit Mega’s paces. When we first started BD and did our first freestyle at Prelim, we had the soundtrack from Cinderella. For our Novice freestyle we have music from The Princess and the Frog, The Little Mermaid and Tangled.” Creating a floorplan that demonstrates the strengths of your and your horse is really important, Lauran tells us she enlisted the help of her coach Daisy Coakley, “it’s important that it flows, is interesting for the judges to watch but also shows off your horse in the best way possible!”
“I have owned Mega now for almost 6 years and bought her to event and have a go at all disciplines.” Having never competed in solely BD competitions before owning Mega, Lauren explains, “having owned her since she was a five-year-old, it’s been so rewarding seeing her progress up through the levels (we are out competing at Elementary level now which even now seems crazy to say!) and how my riding has improved along the way too” But their journey together has not be easy, “Mega was actually diagnosed with Kissing Spine three years ago, had surgery and I rehabbed her myself and so pleased to say that she’s come back stronger and better than ever before. It was so important during her rehab process to ensure she was working correctly and all the hard work I did with my coaches and support teams on the flat is clearly paying off.” Lauren and Mega’s journey is inspiring, “we are a very determined pair, we live and breathe our motto which is - dreams and determination are a powerful combination.”
Rebecca Holloway and Darnay’s Mr Darcy took the win in the Preliminary Bronze with a very impressive 70.56%! Rebecca shared her story with “Darcy” as he is known to his friends, with us. Having owned the 18-year-old for four years, Rebecca explains, “we bought him to get me back into riding and for my (80 year old) Nana to have a horse she could sit on every now and again. He fit the requirements to a T and after trying him for 20 minutes we bought him. I never would have thought that we would be where we are today.”
The combination have a special partnership, Rebecca tells us, “he is my horse of a lifetime and has given me the opportunity to do so many different and exciting things, from my first one day event to photo shoots and jumping completely tackless.” Before their journey began Darcy had only done a small amount of Prelim Rebecca explains, “I taught him to jump and we focused on show jumping and eventing. However, after our first season eventing he was diagnosed with arthritis and a collateral ligament injury, which was heart breaking when we were getting ready to step up to the next level.” Turning a bad situation into something positive Rebecca decided not to give up, “dressage is something we had never pursued as it was by far my weakest sport. After a long year of rehab we moved yards and started working with Mary Robins who made dressage easy, fun and something we were both actually good at! I am still surprised every time receive a good score.”
“The Petplan Area Festival series has been a whirlwind experience and something I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of. It’s a fantastic opportunity for new riders in the world of dressage to have something to aim for and focus on. It makes all the work we put into day to day and at completions completely worth it!” In preparation for their Area Festival, the combination were having regular lessons with trainer Mary, keeping their training “fun and varied” and travelled to local venues to get in as much practise as they could.
Despite all their hard work to get back to this point, Darcy suffered another set-back Rebecca tells us, “unfortunately, in June Darcy went lame again with his arthritis, which meant he had over a month off work, we had to withdraw from the Brook Farm area festival we had originally planned to attend and by the time we were back riding we were both out of practice. We only started cantering again 1.5 weeks before Onley and had Bury Farm the following week.”
Although the pair were a little out of practise they impressed the three judges, “the highlights for me would be our result as we have only achieved 70+% twice before and to have consistent marks over 70% from all 3 judges at both area festivals was a really proud moment and a huge confidence boost. And to win both our Prelim Bronze and FSM Prelim Bronze classes, is still surreal.” Rebecca and Darcy went on to win the Prelim Freestyle Bronze at Brook Farm Summer Area Festival. “To also receive an 8 for my position was special as that is something I have been working very hard on!” Rebecca adds.
Onley Grounds Equestrian Summer Area Festival was a really enjoyable event, “the area festival at Onley and Bury Farm were a great experience and our first ones at a big competition. The venues are lovely and the events were so well organised, huge thank you to the volunteers, judges and organisers” Rebecca also muses over the fun of the area familiarisation at the beginning of the day, “there is something very entertaining about watching 30ish horses walk the same way round an arena and all change direction together when given the command. 10/10 for the coordination for me everyone and no crashes!”
Looking ahead, “I am so excited to be going to the Petplan Summer Championship in October and feeling grateful for every ride I am lucky enough to have on Darcy. We will be coming down that centre line with smiles on our faces.” Their next aim is to attend the Associated Championships in the coloured horse section and the veteran horse section, “we will then be aiming for the winter championship series and I’m excited to see what we will do next.”
Ruby Kelly and Sir Nunn’s Just Rudi were our third place competitors in the Elementary Freestyle Bronze, with a great score of 68.78%. But they didn’t stop there, also winning the Novice Freestyle Silver with an incredible score of 73.06% from the judges, the highest score across all classes at Onley Grounds Summer Area Festival.
Ruby spoke to us about what she loves the most about competing in the Area Festival series,
“I enjoyed the fact it’s all inclusive, it doesn’t matter what horse you’re on, the age or breed - it’s all very equal and a wonderful atmosphere to be involved with. You get to meet so many lovely people too!”
Leading up to the Area Festival Ruby talked us through her training plan, “our preparation for the two days we competed consisted of practicing our music floor plan to get our timing as best as we could and lots of hints and tips from my two instructors Kirsty Imm Dressage and Richard Hayward to pick up them extra marks.” And they did just that, coming away with two amazing results.
Ruby explained what she thought were the highlights of their tests, “in the elementary music my favourite part was walking to our music of ‘Miami’ by Will Smith, one of my favourite songs and my favourite track in our F1 themed dressage to music.”
Then looking at their Novice test, Ruby shares, “all of it was great, he was super the whole time but doing our medium trot to Billy Idols ‘Rebel Yell’ was definitely the highlight. What made my day though was getting such lovely comments for the judges, one of them being ‘A beautiful horse and a well presented test with well matched music’ and ‘a pleasure to judge.’
Music choice it part of the fun of competing in the freestyle classes, choosing music you enjoy and that suits the paces of your horse or pony. Ruby talks us through her music for both her Novice and Elementary, “our music has two different themes, our elementary being F1 themed, and my novice being an 80s pop/rock mix, no particular reason other than the fact I love Formula 1 and love 80s music!”
Ruby and “Rudi” have been a partnership since 2020, “he’s my first horse after coming off riding school ponies, and to a complete non-equestrian family he was the most perfect first horse for me, he can be quirky but i love him just the way he is!” The two of them have gone from strength to strength, “he’s taken me from my first ever intro dressage test to winning multiple championships and I’m forever grateful for him. After the Summer Area Festival Championships we’re hoping to make our medium debut but time will tell with how we will do.”