Georgia Bruce at the World Dressage Championships 2007

This report was written by Georgia Bruce for the September Edition of "The Horse Magazine".

Georgia would like to thank her sponsors and everyone who assisted her in getting to the World Para Dressage Championships.



A Very Wet World Para Dressage Championships 2007

From the 16th to the 22nd of July 2007, Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, England hosted the first ever Para Equestrian World Dressage Championships to be governed by the FEI.

One hundred and fifty competitors from forty-two nations descended on the recently upgraded and very impressive 4.6 million pound venue.

Australia sent a large contingent consisting of seven riders and ten support staff.
The riders were:
Grade 1a - Jan Pike,
Grade 1b - Grace Bowman and Nicole Kullen,
Grade 2 - Mary Ipkendanz,
Grade 3 - Marita Hird and Sharon Jarvis,
Grade 4 - Georgia Bruce.

Team Staff included:
Coach - Mary Longden,
Assistant Coach - Sally Francis,
Team Manager - Ken Dagley,
Assitant Manager/Nurse/Massuer - Michelle Goodrich.

The team arrived in the UK at the end of June, for three weeks training in Staffordshire. Coach Mary Longden had travelled over earlier to source horses.

It rained from the moment we arrived and parts of England were already experiencing minor flooding. Marita Hird (Grade 3) and Mary Ipkendanz (Grade 2) borrowed horses from Ingestre Stables, and also trained at the two hundred year old riding school. The indoor arena at Igestre was flooded which meant three weeks of riding in the rain for Marita and Mary.

The rest of our horses were brought in to train at the Heart of England stables, owned by Claire Ballantyne.

About a week into our stay and one by one, riders and team staff started to come down with the flu. Coughing and sniffling while riding, everyone showed their determination not to miss a single training session.

As time progressed, the team was going well and we had some good horse rider combinations, and everyone was getting to know there horses.
We were so organised that we were able to begin working on our freestyle tests and get them filmed , improve our patterns and perfect the timing of the music.

As a grade 4 rider I needed a 60 x 20m arena to run through my freestyle.
In Australia it seems like every second person has a 60 x 20m arena.
In England they are few and far between, we had to load up my horse and travel nearly two hours to the nearest 60 x 20m arena!

The place was called Beaver Hall, which strangely enough was an outdoor arena. They had a competition on, but allowed me to use the arena afterwards.
The horse I was riding was a Dutch Warmblood x Irish Sport Horse called Rowans Quest. He competes at advanced level, and we were getting along quite well together. We ran through my freestyle, and he performed well despite the torrential rain and driving wind.
It had been pouring with rain all day and the track to the arena had been really badly churned up. All I could see was a river of water and mud running down the track.
I felt Rowans front legs sink, he tried to go forwards then one front leg sank really deeply into the mud. Then he scrambled out and seemed to be ok. But we soon discovered that he had strained a check ligament in his right foreleg. A freak accident, but one that put him out of work with box rest for three months.

Luckily Rowans owner had been there and had seen what the conditions were like. She had originally suggested we go to this venue. So she knew it was an accident.

With a week and a half to go before the world championships I now had to find another horse, no easy task!

Now a keen supporter of the Australian Para Dressage team, Rowans owner contacted a friend who owned Rowans full brother Celtic Quest. So the next day we drove to Wales to try the horse. He was finer than Rowan, with better paces but less education. He was competing at Medium level and would have to do, as we did not have time to find another horse.

With one day training on Celtic we headed to Myerscough College for a competition.
It was a qualifier for the British Para Nationals.
Our team performed well, Nicole, Marita and I all placed first and second in both tests. The rest of the team also performed well.

The youngest member of the team was Grace Bowman (Grade 1b), riding a pony called Haleys Star. The pony had great paces, but had been a bit spooky in training though manageable. At Myerscough it became obvious that the pony was unsuitable, as it spooked badly several times and almost dumped Grace in the warm up arena.

Now with a week to go before the world championships the team tried to find another horse for Grace. With few to choose from the coach settled on a Highland Pony called Nashend Linkwood. At least he was quiet, and fairly educated, but he did not have the elegance or paces of the top 1b horses.

We then did another competition. This one was held at Heart of England. Claire organised to include Grade 1 and 2 tests in the competition, while grade 3 and 4 rode in open competition at novice and medium level.

Again the team performed well, with Nicole Kullen and Jan Pike scoring over 70%.
I also scored well and ended up winning the open medium class.
Marita’s horse, a 17hh warmblood gelding called Masterpiece, gave her the bronc ride of her life in the warm up arena, bucking, twisting rearing and leaping from side to side. Marita proved that she has stickability as she stayed put throughout his performance. Unsurprisingly the horse did not go so well in the test, as he was still distracted, but Marita made him go forwards and rode an accurate test.

Finally the day came to pack up and travel two and a half hours to Hartpury College. As we arrived the sun came out and the venue looked amazing.
We trained that afternoon, and everyone went well except Marita’s horse who again tried standing on its hindleg’s to avoid going forwards.
In the next three days of training, Marita did get the horse obedient and going forwards, but he was not holding up to the work and his hindlegs were looking progressively more uneven.

A CDI was run inconjuction with the World Championships. Australian Lisa Martin was there riding her nine year old mare Rhythmic in the Grand Prix where she placed 16th . She then came 7th in the Grand Prix Special.
The crowd was shocked and horrified in the prize giving for the Grand Prix Freestyle, when Erik Theilgaard's 13 year old Monsanto suffered heart failure and died.
The horse was passaging one minute and on the ground the next. It was terrible.

Stephanie Croxford, riding Mr President, placed 2nd in the Grand Prix and 2nd in the GP Freestyle. Stephanie was an Australian team supporter and loaned her advanced horse Red Senator for the Australian team . Red was ridden by Sharon Jarvis (Grade 3) from Western Australia.

200mm of rain fell on the first day of the World Championships.
Grade 1 and 3 were indoor in the new and prestigious “Hartpury Arena”.
However Grades 2 and 4 were outside in the torrential rain.

Jan Pike riding Betty Boo placed 6th in the Grade 1a,
Nicole Kullen also placed 6th in the Grade 1b riding the quiet and super moving gelding Worleston Billy.

Being from North Queensland I am accustomed to riding in torrential monsoon downpours. However I never expected to ride in these conditions on the other side of the world! Celtic Quest did his best for me despite the conditions. Unfortunately it was not a level playing field as he was an elementary/medium level horse competing against Prix St George and Grand Prix horses!

Day two of the competition the rain continued. The small tour of the CDI was cancelled to allow the Para Dressage World Championships to be held completely indoors. This meant the competition ran until 10pm at night!

Jan Pike came 5th on Betty Boo and Nicole Kullen and Worelston Billy performed brilliantly and scored 73% and a silver medal for Australia!
On the first centerline halt Grace Bowman’s pony had a major stumble to his knees and nearly sent Grace flying straight over his head! To Grace’s credit she regained her seat, saluted, and then went on to ride the most accurate grade 1b test.
Sharon Jarvis rode a very accurate and forward moving test to place 6th in the grade 3 with 68.13%. Marita’s horse Masterpiece was difficult again today as he had been in the test on the day before. She did well to cope and continue to ride accurately despite the horse resisting and being disobedient.
In the grade 4, Celtic Quest performed as well as he could for me. Though we were out of our league against the more advanced and flashier moving horses and we ended up placing 15th.

By the third day of the competition Gloucestershire was a confirmed national disaster area. People who had come to watch the competition had been unable to get out due to high floodwaters. They ended up sleeping on horse rugs and makeshift beds anywhere they could find.

Food supplies ran out in the canteens, and helicopters had to drop food in for more than 500 people including competitors, coaches, event officials and spectators that were now trapped at the Hartpury College. Luckily there was enough food for the horses!
However the show must go on, and all riders performed their final test, the freestyle to music. Nicole Kullen medalled again taking out bronze with 73.051%
Mary Ipkendanz (Grade 2) riding “JC Too” performed a brilliant freestyle and placed eighth.
Masterpiece finally decided he would come to the party for Marita Hird and they placed 10th with 69% despite moments of being uneven behind.
I scored 67% with high artistic marks and again placed 15th.

We had a very long trip to the airport the next day, as we had to take many back roads to get around the flood waters.
As we were leaving Gloucestershire 150,000 people were without power or water and it was declared England’s worst floods in 500 years!

Overall Australia ended up 7th in the teams event. Meaning we have secured at least four spots for riders in Hong Kong. The nationals in October will be a qualifier and will be our last chance to increase the number of riders Australia can take to Hong Kong.

It has also become apparent that they will not be taking a grade 4 rider unless I can find a really good horse to ride. So if anyone can help please contact Ken Dagley or Georgia Bruce.