TWO Irish teams travelled over to Pickering Grange Equestrian in Leicestershire last week for the British Dressage Para and Senior Home Nations which, from Friday to Sunday, ran concurrently for the first time.

Sean Burgess, who is on DI’s training committee, was chef d’equipe for both squads, set out to foster an inclusive, supportive team spirit between all the riders and their back-up teams who, at times, had to deal with some challenging weather conditions.

Para team

First up were the Para team (Ireland Celtic Cadence) of Karen Burke (Grade V) with Secret Desire HW, Tara Flynn (Grade III) on Cascavel, Heather Lemmon (Grade 1) riding Ladychapel Narnia and Cassandra Morris (Grade V) on Lots Of Joy. Following Friday’s opening round, the quartet were lying second, but they pulled out all the stops on Saturday and, on a score of 411.49%, won the Para Home Nations shield and statue for the first time, ahead of Scotland Magic Number (410.82) and N&E Wilderness (407.38).

Morris has been on a successful run of late, this win in England with her 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding following victory with the dark brown son of Negro in the Medium Category 2 Championship at the recent DI National Championships Festival at Castle Irvine, Necarne. She gave us her personal view on the Home Nations.

“This was our first trip abroad together and ‘Remi’ travelled really well, arriving fresh and happy. We had a warm-up test on Thursday, with an Elementary test where we won our section and the overall class. This set us up nicely to lead into the two days of Para competition. We scored 67% on Friday and 68% on the second day to win on a total of 136.072.”

Also competing at Grade V level, Karen Burke scored 134.039 on her seven-year-old Westphalian gelding Secret Desire HW. Tara Flynn (Grade III) recorded a two-day score of 154.286 with her 13-year-old grey gelding Cascavel, who is registered with the Anglo European Studbook. At Grade 1 level, Heather Lemmon saw out her Home Nations’ competitive action on a total of 139.583 with her 15-year-old Irish-bred roan mare Ladychapel Narnia.

Overall individual championships

In the overall individual championships, Morris won Grade V with Burke finishing third; Lemmon claimed the Grade I title; and Flynn was fifth at Grade III level.Back to Morris: “We had some lovely comments from the judges with more marks to come in the future. Most of the time in Ireland we are the only ones in our Para class, so to see how we measure up against others is invaluable.

“The team were superb. We were a close second overnight after day one and improved our overall team score on day two to take the win. We had incredible support from the Dressage Ireland seniors and it was very much a united Team Ireland; chef d’equipe Sean Burgess, supported by Mark Ruddock, were instrumental in this.

“I am incredibly lucky to have the support of my parents, friends and Para Equestrian Ireland (PEI), who generously supported the riders this year. We knew we had the potential to do well, but with horses, nothing is guaranteed.

“This event served as the perfect dry run for future internationals, helping us see how Remi travelled and where we fit in. My coach Sean Burgess and I will have a debrief and we’ll spend the winter building strength and working towards Advanced Medium and the Grand Prix Para tests. Moving forward, our goal is to step up to 2* and 3* CPEDI competitions - with a horse like Remi, the sky’s the limit!”

Irish representation

Only six Dressage Ireland members competed in the Senior Home Nations this year, all of whom had been in action at the recent Dressage Ireland national championships festival at Castle Irvine, Necarne. There, apart from the Freestyle championships, they rode DI or FEI tests while, at the weekend, British Dressage or FEI tests were used.

Jane Allen Collins recorded the higher of her two scores (64.584) on her 10-year-old home-bred Irish Sport Horse mare Lougherne Atlanta (by Antaeus) in Saturday’s 35-runner Elementary 5.

Emma Dair brought over two eight-year-olds, the skewbald gelding Castle Ellis Avicii, whose highest score of three (65.952) was recorded in Saturday’s Preliminary 5, and the grey mare Castle Ellis Esmeralda (65.722) in Saturday’s Novice 5).

Also representing Ireland at Pickering Grange were Barbara Delahoyde, who competed twice on her 11-year-old Dutch-bred Welsh mare Klein Roderijs Gold Fee (64.444 in Sunday’s Elementary 6); Niamh Macken, who achieved the highest of her three scores (67.581) on her 11-year-old Irish Draught gelding Diamond King Henry (by King Alton) in Sunday’s Novice 6; Tracy Murphy, who scored 68.026 in Friday’s Advanced Medium 4 on her 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Kennedy; and Megan Stokes, who scored 65.933 in Sunday’s Preliminary 6 on her former racehorse Woods, a 10-year-old Garswood gelding.

Regarding the Senior team, Burgess commented: “We had a win in the warm-up classes and two solid scores. On a wet Saturday, we had some good solid tests, but also some sat nav errors crept in, which kept the scores down.

“On Sunday, there was even more rain - but less sat nav errors, which resulted in improved scores.”