A British Whitewash at Royal Windsor

British Whitewash at the CHI Royal Windsor Horse Show

Written by Amy Powell

Dressage report

After two nights of international action at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, it was Britain’s very own poster girl, Charlotte Dujardin, that swept the board with wins on board Mount St John Freestyle in both classes, with her British teammates following in her footsteps.

After scoring 78.58% in the Grand Prix with a test free of any major mistakes, Mount St John Freestyle gave a more relaxed performance on the second night when the pair rode to dynamic music borrowed from Valegro’s Rio Olympic test. With the tension in the piaffe to passage transitions gone, the pair improved on their mark to score 81.21% in only their second attempt at a Freestyle test, leaping ahead of the rest of the field by almost 5%.

“I’m absolutely over the moon with her, she is only nine years old and this is only her second ever grand prix freestyle,” Charlotte said of the Fidermark mare, “it doesn’t matter how much you train at home, it’s not until you go in there that you really know where you are,” she remarked on their performances ahead of the World Equestrian Games this year.

Taking the second spot both nights was Charlotte’s long-term mentor and friend, Carl Hester riding Hawtins Delicato in their international debut. Charlotte had previously competed the Diamond Hit gelding nationally before Carl took over the reins. Apart from a mistake in their tempi changes on both nights, the pair pose an impressive picture showing some incredible piaffe work.

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The main thing is having a confident horse, he is very hot and wired for noise.” Carl said of the Diamond Hit offspring. “He is quite a challenge and I don’t want to overwork him to be able to do a test, I want him to relax in it and enjoy it. I’m thinking about the World Equestrian Games and trying to give him some nice rides, so I’m really happy with that.”

Britain’s Gareth Hughes bettered his fourth place on Thursday night to swap places with compatriot Richard Davidson – taking his third place for the Freestyle. Gareth, on the Hannovarian gelding Don Carissimo showed some real promise as they strutted to more modern music than is usually seen in the dressage arena including Avicii and The Greatest Showman soundtrack. The combination were rewarded by the judges, increasing their Thursday night score of 70.73% by 3%. If Gareth can find a way to help the Don Crusador son to relax in the arena, the pair could really be knocking on the door of an 80% score in the next 12 months.

After scoring just over 70% with the impressive Bubblingh in the Grand Prix, Richard and the impressive Lingh gelding struggled with a couple of minor errors in their Freestyle on Friday night, allowing tension to creep in to their test in some areas. However, the pair still managed to increase their better marks, finishing on a score of 73.29%. Bringing up the British clean sweep of the top five on both nights was Hayley Watson-Greeves on her long-term partner, the 14 year old Rubins Night.