The rider of a purebred Shire mare who has been contesting Area Festivals – and aiming for the championships – said it is a pleasure to show what non-conventional dressage horses can do.
Boo Riley and Nicholas Dymond’s eight-year-old Thames Oak Glamour Girl just missed out on a qualifying ticket at the Addington Equestrian winter Area Festival on 17 January, but have another chance at Solihull next month.
Dressage producer and rider Boo told H&H Nicholas is her neighbour, and asked her to back “Betsie” in 2020.
“I thought there was no reason why not; I can back horses and ponies, so I can back a Shire,” she said. “And it all went from there!”
Boo said Betsie was straightforward to back, and she carried on schooling her once or twice a week.
“She did a bit of in-hand showing, then last summer, we took her to the National Shire Horse Show,” she said. “She did the novice ridden class and came second, then we did the Horse of the Year Show qualifier, which was a bit of an eye-opener! There were so many in it, and she’s 17.2hh but she looked dainty compared to the others.
“We’d taken her to do a couple of dressage tests in preparation for that show and she went really well so we thought ‘Let’s see if she can do it’.”
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And she can; she has won six prelim classes so far, and came third at last year’s summer Area Festival qualifier at Kingswood; having held second place and a championship qualifying ticket, the last horse to go pushed her down to third.
“We really hoped for a wild card, that she might scrape in, as I thought she’d have as good a chance as anyone at the championships,” Boo said.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
“I think it’s really lovely for people to see that all sorts of horses can successfully compete in dressage, and I love the fact the judges are open to horses who aren’t the typical dressage type.”
Boo has also competed a part-bred Clydesdale to medium level, and an Irish cob to elementary, and has taken part in judge training events.
There are of course more challenges with a horse who is so much bigger – 900kg, to be exact – as Boo said: “Collecting the canter is hard work when they’re that weight!”
But, she added, every horse has to be able to carry itself, and good training is just that, whatever she is riding.
Other challenges include the labour of love on Nicholas’s part to keep those fabulous feathers and ample tail in show condition, and her tack.
“I heard that when Albion made her saddle, they rang the saddler to double-check the measurements were correct as they’d never made one so wide!” she said. “Nicholas does an amazing job, and he loves the fact he has a rare breed, a horse who’s a bit unusual; he can’t walk round the lorry park without people stopping him, and that’s lovely, isn’t it?
“I find it so inspiring that these horses who aren’t flashy movers do stand a good chance; if they do consistent, accurate tests, they have as good a chance as anybody else.”
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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.
