IN only their second season competing on the international circuit, Judy Reynolds and the 12-year-old Fuerstenball Old gelding For Fun 51 scored a Grand Prix Special personal best of 67.723% for ninth place at the three-star show in Exloo, The Netherlands, last Friday.

Irish rider Jennifer Harnett placed 11th with Eximio on 66.787%. The previous day’s CDI3* Grand Prix total of 67.065% saw Jennifer and her 14-year-old Lusitano stallion Eximio secure a minimum eligibility requirement (MER) qualification for the 2023 FEI Dressage European Championships. “I am delighted,” Harnett commented. “Since we started competing internationally in July last year, securing the qualification score was our aim.

“We got the first MER score on our international debut and now securing the European qualification criteria means we have achieved one of our targets. The last few months have just been a process for me and Eximio and we have really started to learn.

“I continue to train with Inge van der Schaft who I have been fortunate to have as a trainer for the last four years. Her husband, Finnish Grand Prix team trainer Rien van der Schaft, is also a great help to me at shows.

“Eximio and I are growing and learning more all the time and we have now established a really solid base for the future to take us on to the next level.”

Dutch rider Marlies Van Baalen and Habibi DVB made it a big tour double for the home nation in Exloo winning the Grand Prix Special on 74.979%.

Competing in the floodlit Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) class on the same day, Carolyn Mellor scored 65.325% with her 12-year-old KWPN gelding VSH Gouverneur M for 12th place.

In the Grand Prix class on Thursday, Mellor’s score of 66.457% secured the first of two minimum eligibility requirement scores required for the 2023 FEI Dressage European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany, at the beginning of September.

The freestyle to music Grand Prix was won by Devenda Dijkstra and Hero for The Netherlands on a winning total of 73.475%.

Meanwhile, at the international show in Compiègne, France, Irish junior rider Sophia Doheny placed 10th with Batiqar in the FEI Junior Team Test class on 67.127%.