Up-and-coming dressage superstar Woodlander Farouche has broken her winning streak, coming second in the Mount St John Dressage Future Championships at Horse of the Year Show.
Bit tense
The Intermediare I Freestyle produced some stunning tests from the leading ‘Small Tour’ combinations, but it was Anders Dahl’s rousing performance with Selten HW who won the class.
“I’m very happy with him,” Anders told H&C. “He was fairly fresh and a bit tense at first, but he still he listened to me and kept working so I was pleased with the test.”
According to the Dutch rider the 10-year-old gelding is normally pretty laid back, but he does have his “explosive” moments.
Goosebumps
“He definitely has a bit of character,” he said. “It mainly comes out when the grooms are walking him. He can be going calmly and will suddenly explode and go two metres up the in air. It’s the same in the warm up – he will have a little explosion, but as soon as does it he is focussed.”
Anders said he chose the music for the test very carefully to suit his horse’s big movement and personality.
“We wanted something gothic and quite powerful because he is a powerful horse,” he said. “When I ride to it I still get goosebumps – the music suits him really well.”
Deep end
Until this competition Woodlander Farouche remained unbeaten, recently winning the Prix St Georges at the Nationals. This was the doubleWorld Breeding Dressage Champion’sfirst Inter I and she put in a great performance, despite a few mistakes, to score 76.45%.
“She really tried hard,” Michael said to H&C. “She’s been thrown in at the deep end, really. She had a little breather after doing the PSG at the Nationals, and then had to start to learn full pirouettes and two-time changes! She produced that stuff really well tonight”
“I’ve taken quite a bit of time with her as she has to organise her huge canter. I can count on one hand how many PSGs she’s done. Now we need to crack on now – she knows everything and will only get better.”