Evergreen mare takes top spot

Familiar faces take top honours, as eventers impress and new combinations win championship titles for the first time

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JULIA WALKER and her 19-year-old mare Rodhea are no strangers to championships, having come second in the inter I freestyle at last year’s Summer Area Festival Championships.

Here they went one better, winning the inter I silver on 66.02%, just ahead of Nichola Harrison and Lobke Van Het Urnenveld on 65.93%.

“We call her princess,” said Julia, who works for John and Charlotte Lassetter. “I was so pleased with her performance and that we didn’t make any mistakes in the changes.

“She came to the UK as a five-year-old from Lithuania and was going to be for Char but she wasn’t quite big enough, so I bought and backed her.”

International event rider Sara Squires – who won the CIC3* (now CCI4*–S) at Bramham Horse Trials in 2013 and still competes at two-star level – scooped the inter I bronze title on Laetitius C with 68.62%.

When asked if she gets the same buzz from dressage, she said: “I love the training and discipline in dressage. I’ve had to push myself as a rider because you have to work so hard to get your horse to perform this stuff.

“In the end, it all comes down to your partnership with the horse – they’ve got to trust you in the arena just as much as they would if you were jumping into the water out eventing.”