It’s happy days (so far) from sunny Spain.
Marinetty and I have competed in our first prix st george and I’m delighted we came second, despite a couple of miscommunications during the test. Beatrice Ferrer Salat, one of Spain’s top riders, won the class. The judges were rather at odds with two having her below me and the other marking 6% above the other two. My scores were pretty similar though and we ended up just under 68%. I’m really pleased with Mr M and it was a great chance to get to know each other better in a competition environment.
Ulia has done really well. This is her first ever trip abroad and was also her first test at advanced medium level. We scored 69% for another second place. I’m so pleased with her, she tried really hard and took the international arena in her stride. We won two exercise bandages with the montenmedio logo on so our mission now is to win another two so we can dress all four of her legs.
Kate [Roland] and I are well and truly into the Spanish spirit now. We are being guided through their tour by Beatrice’s groom of many years, Robbie Sanderson, who was originally from Basingstoke and still wears Union flag underpants on a daily basis. We have also been educating some non-horsey British holidaymakers, who wandered into the showground. We have obviously done well as today they told us that they think dressage is ‘the bollocks’ and intend to support us tomorrow wearing their GB football shirts and waving a Union flag tea towel!
Last night all the dressage competitors made a trip to a very lively local bar to watch Real Madrid play Barcelona and share a huge paella. This went a lot better than the night before when we couldn’t understand the menu, asked the waiter to order for us and ended up eating octopus, so we have decided we need to improve our Spanish at a great rate. I’ll be riding lots more tests over the weekend so will report back next week — Adiós for now!
Anna
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Anna is an international grand prix dressage rider and freelance trainer, who has represented Britain at the European championships. A trainer for a number of top event riders, Anna has often assisted us with our H&H Live service during the dressage phase from Badminton and Badminton. A regular Horse & Hound columnist, you can read Anna’s views in the magazine or H&H Plus members can view them online below. Find out how to join H&H Plus