A rider achieved a personal best dressage score in the middle of a “biblical storm” to claim victory five months after finding out she is in remission from cancer.
Debbie Cole, 63, and her 15-year-old Dutch warmblood Dancer III won the prix st georges (PSG) silver section at Kings Sedgemoor Equestrian Centre on 9 May, on 72.35%.
Debbie told H&H she was “delighted” with her test – despite the “biblical storm” that was raging as she rode.
“It was a horrendous day and flooding in Somerset. The whole of the horizon was black all around us, there was thunder and it was absolutely chucking it down,” she said.
“Dancer warmed up beautifully and was completely unfazed. And when we got in the arena, it was just the test you always want to ride. Everything wasn’t perfect, but it went as well as it could for us. His changes were fluid, the pirouettes came off well and I’m thrilled with him. It was our highest score by miles.”
Debbie started treatment for lymphoma last June, during which time Dancer was kept fit by her trainer Johnny Clarke-West and the team at Collective Equestrian. She found out just before Christmas she was in remission and “started the long journey back to fitness”. This show was only Debbie’s third since her cancer treatment, and her fifth attempt at PSG.
“I was having treatment every three weeks until October, and I went from barely being able to sit upright in a chair, to back riding, to getting myself fit again. You feel so exhausted after treatment and it is quite tempting to just sit in a chair, but I love competing and it kept me going having something to focus on and a reason to get fit again,” she said.
“Dancer is just the most generous, kind horse. If you give him the right aids, he’ll produce the goods. I bought him as a schoolmaster two years ago, and this was also his highest score to date, so even as a schoolmaster he’s still improving.”
Debbie will ride at her first Premier League at Somerford on 25 May.
“Elizabeth Allen, one of the trainers at Collective Equestrian, is taking me and is going to show me the ropes,” she said.
“Our score at Kings Sedgemoor has given me the confidence to think we can go and do this, and I’m so excited. My goal was always to get to PSG, and to have done that and got that score, and to now be going to Somerford is phenomenal and beyond my wildest dreams. I just love the experience with Dancer.”
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