Fearn's Farm Dressage Championships 2009
The second Fearns Farm Dressage Championships was held at Aintree International Equestrian Centre on the 19 and 20th December.
Competitors braved the bad weather and the snow starting to fall to compete for the amazing prizes kindly sponsored by Fearns Farm Equestrian and Country including tack shop vouchers, numnahs and race tickets for the May shoulder meeting kindly provided by Aintree Racecourse. Sixteen year old Samantha Foxall made a successful raid winning both the Prelim and the Novice on her thirteen year old Dutch warmblood Onnie. Second place in the Prelim went to fourteen year old local Formby rider Sophie Conway with Newhaven Robin recently brought over from Ireland six months ago. Third place went to last years winner Heather Cardwell on her Welsh Cob Lucky Boy with fourth place going to Sara Snelling with Monty a welsh cob arab who only started competing in dressage in February.
The final class of the day proved to be a very close call with Samantha Foxall riding Onnie clinching the championship to go home clutching a host of prizes from her successful day out and Heather Cardwell last years winner with Lucky Boy taking a well deserved second place. Third place went to Izzy Mitchell with the leopard spotted ten year old Apache Warrior and Holly Ashcroft and Just George a thirteen year old Haflinger taking 4th place. It was great turnout by the juniors and good day was had by all.
With heavy snow falling on the Sunday and throughout the day this did not deter the strong field of seniors to battle it out. The Prelim 19 was won by a well deserving supporter of Aintree – Jodie Sharp riding the seven year old piebald German warmblood Pitzulas Parenzl. Joint second place went to Wendy Saunders a BHS instructor with the local RDA centre riding Red Skelton an ex racehorse with three race wins to his name and now retrained to start a new career in dressage. Pat Armfield on Mebs Libermain a 9yr old British warmblood bred locally in Formby at Bowlers Riding School was also joint second. Fourth place went to Sharmay Ball on Hosanna a tri-coloured Irish X French thoroughbred.
Competitors braved the bad weather and the snow starting to fall to compete for the amazing prizes kindly sponsored by Fearns Farm Equestrian and Country including tack shop vouchers, numnahs and race tickets for the May shoulder meeting kindly provided by Aintree Racecourse. Sixteen year old Samantha Foxall made a successful raid winning both the Prelim and the Novice on her thirteen year old Dutch warmblood Onnie. Second place in the Prelim went to fourteen year old local Formby rider Sophie Conway with Newhaven Robin recently brought over from Ireland six months ago. Third place went to last years winner Heather Cardwell on her Welsh Cob Lucky Boy with fourth place going to Sara Snelling with Monty a welsh cob arab who only started competing in dressage in February.
The final class of the day proved to be a very close call with Samantha Foxall riding Onnie clinching the championship to go home clutching a host of prizes from her successful day out and Heather Cardwell last years winner with Lucky Boy taking a well deserved second place. Third place went to Izzy Mitchell with the leopard spotted ten year old Apache Warrior and Holly Ashcroft and Just George a thirteen year old Haflinger taking 4th place. It was great turnout by the juniors and good day was had by all.
With heavy snow falling on the Sunday and throughout the day this did not deter the strong field of seniors to battle it out. The Prelim 19 was won by a well deserving supporter of Aintree – Jodie Sharp riding the seven year old piebald German warmblood Pitzulas Parenzl. Joint second place went to Wendy Saunders a BHS instructor with the local RDA centre riding Red Skelton an ex racehorse with three race wins to his name and now retrained to start a new career in dressage. Pat Armfield on Mebs Libermain a 9yr old British warmblood bred locally in Formby at Bowlers Riding School was also joint second. Fourth place went to Sharmay Ball on Hosanna a tri-coloured Irish X French thoroughbred.
The Senior Novice 38 Championship was won by Sandra Greig on the beautiful Dutch Warmblood Valstar, with the grey Hanoverian Fifi and Melissa Williams who was second in last year’s championships taking second place. Jodie Sharp earlier winner of the first class finished her day by taking third place with Pitzulas Parenzl. Mebs Libermain completed their run of success by taking fourth place.
The second Fearns Farm Dressage championships was declared a successful and enjoyable day by all competitors and plans for the 2010 championships are well under way with the first qualifiers starting early next year with more qualifying venues being added in the surrounding regions.
We would like to extend a massive thank you to everyone at Fearns Farm Equestrian and Country for their generous support and making this event very special for all competitors Please visit their website www.fearnsfarm.co.uk or visit their store on the A59 Preston Road, Rufford. The photographer throughout the event was Emerald Fotos . All photos of the championships can be found on www.emerald-fotos-com. From everyone at Aintree International Equestrian Centre we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – see you all in 2010!
