Following on from their success at the Regional Championships and as part of their preparation for the 2011 British Dressage National Championships next month, Jan and Zeus were competing at Norton Heath in Essex today. The weather was typical for a Bank Holiday weekend, brief bouts of sunshine interspersed with squally showers – I was just waiting for it to snow for a full house!

The test looked good to me and as always their partnership worked very well resulting in a second place with a score of 67.69%, this means they have also qualified for the British Dressage Area Festival and part qualified for the British Dressage Regional Winter Championships.

There are some people we would like to thank and they are:

Steve and Andrea Bond of Bond Fitness who have helped Jan with developing some equestrian specific exercises to assist in her training regime. Bond Fitness are a specialist gym based in Hertford but don’t expect any treadmills, rowing machines etc. What you will get is a personalised and tailored fitness programme whatever your goals are.

John Lancaster of The Lancaster Clinic. John has been a tremendous help in Jan’s preparation by getting her mindset right with some Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) sessions. Thanks John, you’re a star!

Onto some pictures from today:

Last night my wife Jan and I were very fortunate to be invited to Carl Hester’s private box at the FEI World Cup Dressage event as part of the London International Horse Show at Olympia in London. This was the main event on the dressage calendar during the Olympia show and involved the horses and riders doing a dressage test to music – otherwise known as the Kur and it attracts the best riders and horses in the world. Carl is probably the top British rider having won numerous national and international event as well as representing the UK at the Olympics and he continues to be an excellent ambassador for the sport.

We met up with Carl and a few friends at the hotel prior to the event for a couple of drinks and then it was time to get ourselves over to Olympia. This was the first time we had been in a private box and it was pretty impressive with commanding views of the whole arena. I also had a media pass for the event and I think I can safely say that I was the smartest photographer there although the photographer/media bib did look a bit odd over the top of a dinner jacket and bow tie! We were treated to a wonderful spectacle of horsemanship from all the riders and a huge cheer went up as Carl entered the arena on Liebling and after a solid test to a medley of Tom Jones music he briefly went into the lead with 78.45%. He was followed by last years winners Adelinde Cornelissen on Parzival who scored just over 82%.

The real crowd pleaser was Moorlands Totilas ridden by Edward Gal, this combination set a new world record a few months ago at the European Dressage Championships and many were wondering if they could match that score. A full house witnessed the 39-year-old rider and his nine-year-old Dutch-bred stallion produce an immaculate and dramatic foot-perfect test of seamless transitions, rhythmic elastic gaits and off the floor paces. They not only matched the score but went on to smash the world record with a score of over 92% to win the FEI World Cup Grand Prix freestyle qualifier.

At the press conference after the event Edward told the waiting press “It felt like a fairytale – all I have to do is to point the way and he does it,” and he maintains that Totilas is just a normal horse. “He is so easy going and hopefully he will stay that way but I do think he enjoys the attention.” British judge Stephen Clarke presided over the ground jury. “At Windsor we thought we were so lucky to witness that level of dressage and tonight it was simply amazing to see that they could produce even better,” said Stephen.

After those dramatic events we decided to celebrate a little bit and I won’t bore you with the lurid tales suffice to say we didn’t get to bed until 3am and I’m feeling it today – I think the ice in the drinks must have been off.

My wife Jan owns a young warmblood horse and she has recently become part of the Being Warmbloods dressage team run by Polly Hodges and her mother Gilly. Since going to train with Polly five year old Zeus has come along in leaps and bounds and today was another step in his dressage career with a competition at Manor Farm Equestrian Centre in Cambridgeshire where he actually behaved himself and got a half decent score!

Obviously I was there to take a few photographs and even though it was an indoor arena the light was okay and I’ve included a few images which can be seen below and for those that are interested the rest can be seen on here.

Good boy!