Combination land 95.6% dressage score – despite two sat-nav errors

(Image credit: Sit4Two equestrian photography)

A combination who scored a whopping 95.6% dressage score despite two rider memory lapses are now heading for the national semi-finals.

British-based Portuguese rider Luis Filipe Vilhena and Secret Secret won the four-year-old class at Beechwood Equestrian Centre on 3 June, with one 9.8 score and the rest 9.5.

“I keep my horses in the field – all my stallions live out together and people tell me I’m crazy but they’re happy and I like to see them in the field – and I’d been teaching all the day before, and that day a guy changed something and broke the hose,” he said. “I got him in on the Saturday to give him a bath because he was really dirty but I couldn’t. I was running late so I just had to brush him quickly, put him on the horsebox and take him to the show.”

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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.

Combination land 95.6% dressage score – despite two sat-nav errors

And he added that the morning of the show did not go entirely to plan.

Luis was a bit late arriving so just tacked up – “I put the numnah on and it got dirty straight away!” – and went into the warm-up, where the stunning stallion, fresh from his night in the field, was calm and ready to go, then into the arena.

“I thought ‘Just enjoy the horse’,” he said. “‘You’ve already qualified, just ride’, and the connection was amazing; it was like we were dancing together.”

It was not all fault-free though, as Luis teaches more than he competes.

“It probably won’t happen again – although you may see this horse at an Olympic Games!” he said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing; I’m still on cloud nine.”

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