ARC win Pairs Dressage at Caledonian Championships!

We were lucky enough to take part in this year’s Caledonian Championships at Scone Palace. The venue was, as ever superb, the weather was lovely, and Lady Ferguson’s organisation was excellent.

Hank and Steel are great pals, and have travelled the length and breadth of the country this year in pursuit of eventing glory, but, it was not until  Lady Ferguson saw them at  Riding Club Championships in Warwickshire and suggested that they might be well enough suited to pair up in the dressage arena that we’d ever thought of doing  dressage together!

The two greys had also qualified for the BHS XC Championships, which were to be held in Swindon this year, and we were planning our 8hr journey south until we realised it clashed with the Caledonian Championships and decided that this might be more fun.

We were right. Pairs dressage is great fun, with marks awarded for artistic merit and for the horses’ compatibility as a pair as well as the basic movements.

We made up our test (with help from Tina Hazlem and Gillian Beatie) and practised hard for a fortnight, but the horses soon got the message and really stuck together like glue and we were delighted to come out as the winners on the day scoring 14/15 for compatibility as a pair.