Charlotte Dujardin rode Alive and Kicking to victory at the Lier CDI held in Belgium 27th February to 3rd March 2024. The 10-year-old mare out of All at Once (sire) x Fürst Piccolo is jointly owned by Charlotte, Ulrike Bachinger and Carl Hester.
Despite this being only the horse’s second GP and first International Big Tour attendance, the pair won the CDI3* Grand Prix Dressage scoring a respectable 75.043%, before going on to win the Grand Prix Special with a score of 75.192%.
Out of 41 starters in the CDI3*, the Westfalian mare who was purchased in 2018, made a good effort, only faltering on the centreline when issues came apparent when transitioning into the piaffe. Despite a mark of 3 for the movement from one of the judges, the pair emerged victorious.
After the win, Charlotte told British Dressage “I am very proud of my horse. I really didn’t know how it would go today to be honest. She has never done this before”. She went on “There are lots of experienced Grand Prix horses here and it was a big, strong class with a lot of horses in it. I couldn’t ask for much more. I really came here for experience” she continued “it’s the first show for this season. The main job for me as a rider was to give her confidence to go in there and have a nice time. And I think she did do that”.
Charlotte described the mare, stable name ‘Audrey’ as “..the kindest, sweetest horse – she loves my daughter, Isabella, she’s so good with her and friendly. You can cuddle her all day”.
Having bought the mare at four from Swedish horse dealers, Audrey has since been rode by Sadie Smith and Charlotte McDowall who competed at medium to small tour level, before Charlotte took up the reins in 2023.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.