The aptly named Goodluck II (Ronnie) carried Amy Dixon to the top of the Voltaire Design Badminton Grassroots Championships results with a BE90 victory in the 102-strong class.
The Kendal-based rider also won the inaugural grassroots contest at this venue in 2010 aboard Maid In Holland.
“I’ve lived on that win for 13 years,” said Amy, from Cumbria. “I never expected to come back. It takes a lot of time and emotional effort to get here, and horses are only a hobby.”
Ronnie was bred for dressage, being by Metall, the sire of Carl Hester’s London 2012 Olympic team gold medallist Uthopia.
“I bought Ronnie unbroken as a four-year-old from a video. When he came off the lorry I thought I’d bought a pony, but thankfully he’s matured to 15.2hh,” said Amy, who helps to run the family business, The Bluebird Cafe.
When Amy Dixon first took Goodluck II showjumping, an onlooker told her that his technique was akin to “a spider being thrown across a room”.
It didn’t come naturally to him, but the 39-year-old rider feels like she has now found a key to this phase in the form of a hackamore. Amy had one made by her local saddler, Jenny Inman, and Goodluck II seems to have taken to it like a proverbial duck to water.
“He’s an anxious horse and he’s not only sensitive to the bit, he also likes to chew it,” explained Amy. “I have a tendency to go to my hand and not my leg, which hasn’t helped. I’ve had jumping lessons from Simon Buckley, plus James Sommerville, and this training, coupled with taking the bit away, has really helped us.”
An excited Katie Brickman, an equine vet from Yorkshire, scooped the runner-up spot in the Grassroots Championships results at BE90 aboard Greenkeld’s Moondance, 1.6 cross-country time-faults thwarting her quest for the top spot. Eight-year-old “Millie” is home-bred, by Grafenstolz.
“We gave her the prefix Greenkeld’s because that was the name of my granddad’s house and he was the one who gave me some money towards the stud fee that resulted in Millie,” said Katie, an employee of Ridings Equine Vets.
Holly Jessett, a teacher at Oxley Park Primary Academy in Milton Keynes, finished third with the 10-year-old Lombard Lad.
“He used to buck a lot,” said Holly. “If I got too close to someone jumping in the cross-country warm-up he would buck. He got me off once and ran back to the lorry park.”
Jane Rogers led the dressage with Corrieview Oscar, but eight showjumping faults saw them slip from contention.
Influencer Megan Elphick’s superstar status was confirmed when her large fan club gave her the most resounding cheer as she galloped through the final phase finish aboard Commons Delight, fourth. She also finished seventh on Jamelia.
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You might also be interested in:
‘A proper test’: see all the fully dressed fences on Badminton’s grassroots championships BE90 cross-country course
‘A lot of questions’: see all the fully dressed fences on Badminton’s grassroots championships BE100 cross-country course
Horse who ‘ripped ligament off’ heads to Badminton – with rider who severed hand tendons
Walk the Badminton grassroots cross-country course: ‘The BE90 is tough – the BE100 riders need to bring their A game’
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