Too Hot To Trot

TALENTED Anki Holmstrom of Twin Palms Riding Centre organised a dressage event at Saar Riding Stables last Friday, drawing January’s events to a spectacular close.

The event featured experienced international dressage judges, Denise Vertigen and Dianne Breeze, who flew in from Dubai for the occasion.

An important function at any dressage event is that of the ‘writers’ who scribe for the judges, ensuring comments are accurately recorded, enabling comprehensive feedback for competitors at the end of their tests. Writers for the day were Pam Kamal, Claire Walsh and Nina Owen. Organiser Yvonne Addison was assisted by many others, including Sue Keen who added up the scores, and prizes for the event were donated by Martine Smith.

Classes were held in two arenas running simultaneously. Starting the morning off was the Introductory Adult class brilliantly won by Ali Numdar with the beautiful Great Hook. Whilst Ali was wowing the judges, Mariella Forward put her best hoof forward during the Preliminary Junior test ensuring her handsome boy No Trix clinched first prize.

The Introductory Juniors brought the talents of Hussain Dadulla to the fore stealing the show placing Murhib firmly onto the winning podium. The Preliminary Adult, the biggest class of the day, was superbly won by Nadia Tsvetkova with her delightful diva Bella.

In the Novice classes Kate Addison took the arena by storm winning the junior title astride West Wind. For the adults, Kat Rushton did a grand job on Duke to secure first place. The final class, a mixed Elementary, brought to the arena the talents of Andalusian Nevado ridden by Keshia Smith – this pair struck gold in their first dressage event together.

The organisers, spectators, judges, helpers, horses and riders all did themselves proud. There is something truly magical about dressage and how horses seem to simply dance – a real treat to witness at all levels.

On Saturday, BREEF (Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation) held a National Show Jumping Championship, at the BDF equestrian ground Al Raffa.

This event was observed by visiting FEI solidarity officer Jean-Philippe Camboulives, a member of the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) directed to sustain and develop constructive co-ordination and relations between themselves and BREEF.

Camboulives also visited several local stables and establishments where he was briefed and studied the general levels, abilities and requirements of show jumping riders. The junior/ youth riders were of special interest as he believes in the discovery of new and upcoming talents.

Camboulives also gave a seminar to trainers and riders after the event. The BREEF and the FEI will now form a strategy to develop show jumping in Bahrain, which will be announced shortly.

Taking top podium places at the show jumping in the Junior 1 class was Abdulla Ali astride Ghoroob and Hussain Mohammed Dadulla with Murheeb in the second Junior class. In the first of the Adult classes Muslim Ali emerged victorious with Emily. He was also on the podium for the second Adult class this time with Al Jazeera Pascal, but was denied the hat-trick by Sami Ghazwan who claimed first prize in the Grand Prix class with his mare Fairooz.

BREEF Show Jumping Championship

Class 1 Junior 1: 1 Abdulla Ali/ Ghoroob, 2 Ahmed Essa, Shummar, 3 Hussain Mohammed Dadulla/ Murheeb, 4 Ahmed Essa/ Tutu, 5 Aimee Keen/ Rio, 6 Megan Docherty/ Morano.

Class 2 Junior 2: 1 Hussain Mohammed Dadulla/ Murheeb, 2 Mariella Forward/ No Trix, 3 Ahmed Essa/ Tenor, 4 Kate Addison/ West Wind, 5 Luna Dreyer/ Calypso and Megan Docherty/ Morano.

Class 3 Adult 1: 1 Muslim Ali/ Emily, 2 Mohamed Jassim/ Al Yabes, 3 Muslim Ali/ Never Say Never, 4 Ahmed Al Alawi/ Tyson 2, 5 Hussain Al Bosta/ Tenor, 6 Kat Rushton/ West Wind.

Class 4 Adult 2: 1 Muslim Ali/ Al Jazeera Pascal, 2 Sami Ghazwan/ Abdulla, 3 Muslim Ali/ Emily, 4 Abbas Al Ghuraifi/ Champagne, 5 Jerri Taylor/ Airforce One, 6 Saber Salman Faraj/ BDF Bahrain.

Class 5 Adult 3 – Grand Prix: 1 Sami Ghazwan/ Fairooz, 2 Basel Al Dosary/ BDF Noor, 3 Muslim Ali/ Al Jazeera Pascal, 4 Saber Salman Faraj/ BDF Bahrain, 5 Ahmed Al Jahromi/ Charlie Brown, 6 Shaikh Abdulla Al Khalifa/ Cantuccino.

Twin Palms Riding Centre Dressage

British Dressage Introductory A Junior: 1 Hussain Dadulla/ Murheeb, 2 Imogen Rushton/ Bling.

British Dressage Introductory A Adult: 1 Ali Numdar/ Great Hook, 2 Bianca Gramm/ Dancer, 3 Keisha Smith/ Wellington, 4 Yasser Al Markh/ Lolo, 5 Nina Owen/ Otto, 6 Esmat Fakhro/ King Johannas.

British Dressage Preliminary 7 (2002) Junior: 1 Mariella Forward/ No Trix, 2 Aimee Keen/ Rio and Bella Rushton/ Bling, 4 Bella Rushton/ Fine Art, 5 Aimee Keen/ Mojito, 6 Maud Tinsley/ Darius.

British Dressage Preliminary 7 (2002) Adult: 1 Nadia Tsvetkova/ Bella, 2 Anne Kooheji/ No Trix, 3 Elyas Mohammed/ Queens Guard, 4 Carson Elias/ Fine Art and Maggie Andersson/ Banjo, 6 Maha Lathfullah/ Romeo and Samantha Bayliss/ Twice as Nice.

British Dressage Novice 28 (2008) Junior: 1 Kate Addison/ West Wind, 2 Mariella Forward/ No Trix, 3 Lucy Lunt Bell/ Rakard.

British Dressage Novice 28 (2008) Adult: 1 Kat Rushton/ Duke, 2 Liz Sinclair/ Mano Kinsky, 3 Kat Rushton/ Banjo, 4 Ahmed Akhbar/ Prince, 5 Keisha Smith/ Nevado, 6 Samantha Bayliss/ Shummer.

TPRC ELEMENTARY A Mixed: 1 Keisha Smith/ Nevado, 2 Kat Rushton/ Duke, 3 Kate Addison/ West Wind, 4 Lucy Lunt Bell/ Rakard.

WEEKEND EVENTS
Friday 9am. At Sahara Riding Centre.
Show jumping
Class 1 for Juniors, fences 80/90cm, two rounds.
Class 2 Mixed, fences 90/100cm, two phase course.
Class 3 Mixed Novice/Intermediate, fences 90/100cm, two phase course.
Class 4 Mixed Open Grand Prix, fences 100/130cm, two rounds.
Cost is BD3 per class, rules and regulations apply.

Entries must be submitted by today, late entries will be charged double on the day. Call or visit the riding centre to confirm entry. For more information, contact Mohammed Al Jahromi on 6633 6966.

There will be trophies, rosettes, prizes including a saddle, total prize money BD2,500.
There will also be a raffle.