IRELAND had just one representative at last week’s European youth dressage championships in Oliva, Spain where Devon-based Vicky Campbell competed in the Young Riders’ section on the Dutch Warmblood mare Habouche.

“As I couldn’t drive through France because of Covid restrictions, I had to hire a driver to bring Holly over but I did all the paperwork myself so, unlike some others, they had no hold-up in Calais,” reported the 20-year-old who flew out to Spain with her mentor/trainer Anna Ross who owns Habouche in partnership with Brazil’s Marcelo Tosi. “It meant us being away from the yard for a long time but, as I knew it was going to be hot over there, I wanted to give Holly every chance to acclimatise to the heat and the flies.

“Given that I haven’t had a lot of international experience at this level and that I only started riding the mare in March, I was happy enough with my scores,” continued Campbell. “I made one mistake in the team test and thought, overall, that it deserved a higher mark (than 66.794%). In the individual test, I made a few costly errors but got a similar score (65.324).

“I’m very grateful to Anna and Marcelo for giving me the opportunity to compete at the Europeans on Holly but I now have to hand the ride back to Anna who will bring her up to Grand Prix level while I concentrate on my own horse, Otti (Iotti van Bergsham). While I was the only Irish rider at the Europeans, I was lucky enough to know many of the girls on the British team and they included me when going out in the evenings.”

Hartpury International

At last week’s CDI3* at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, where four Irish riders were in action, Alex Baker was sixth on Dutchman (68.234%) in Sunday’s Grand Prix Special.

On Friday, Britain-based Baker and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding had scored 67.413% to finish 12th in the Grand Prix where Carolyn Mellor and VSH Gouverneur M placed 14th on 66.848% thereby securing the qualifying criteria for the 2021 FEI European Dressage Championships after only two Big Tour international outings in less than two months.

Ireland had three riders competing in the CPEDI3* at the same venue where Grade I competitor Michael Murphy recorded a hat trick in the team (76.750%) individual (76.286%) and Freestyle (82.222) tests on his new ride for this season, the Dutch Warmblood gelding Cleverboy.