VETSEARCH MAKING CHAMPIONS - AACHEN CHALLENGE Date 9/04/2005
About the Aachen Challenge
This competition has become the
highlight of the Australian Young Rider calendar and a goal for every aspiring Dressage
rider who meets the age requirement.
The
competition is open to riders between the age of 16 and 25. The horse
may be borrowed for the competition and riders may enter more than one
horse.
The
Challenge is ridden at Prix St Georges level and consists of two
competitions. The first is a qualifying event. The best three
riders from the qualifying event are eligible for the final. If
a rider qualifies more than one horse for the final, only one horse (the
rider's choice) may compete in the final.
In the
final the riders change horses. They have 10 minutes before the test to
familiarise themselves with each horse. The rider with the best result
from the qualifying round starts last. The winner is the rider with
the highest aggregate for the three rides.
Winning
this prestigious event will mean great recognition for a
long time to come, as it identifies a rider
with great talent and feel. These qualities are demonstrated in the
rider's ability to get a good
result from all three horses that they ride in the final.
The prize
is a trip to Aachen in Germany and the opportunity to train and better
understand the sport of Dressage and system of training in a country which has developed the
world's best riders and horses.
Minako
Furuoka (Japan) |
Dr Barnabas Mandi (Hungary) |
Joy Charlton (Australia)
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CLASS:22 AACHEN CHALLENGE
Place NUMBER HORSE Rider Name ERRORS ------------SCORES----- TOTAL PERC
E C M
1 148 NORTHERN REGENCY PEDRETTI, RENEE VIC 1 213( 1) 210( 1) 200( 1) 623 66.99
 
Northern Regency and Renee Pedretti put in an excellent performance. Their Aachen Challenge ride
was very well prepared and Renee did not give any marks away. She won the event last year on her
own Sunbury Lodge Thomas (who has recently started at Grand Prix and placed 4th with the highest
score for a Victorian combination (she received a garland from the EFA Vic Branch).
Regency (Reg) is owned by Maureen Barrell, who had been a wonderful support to Renee. Well done to all concerned.
2 106 ISLE OF HINTON GREER (YR), JUSTINE VIC 190( 6) 195( 4) 195( 3) 580 62.37
Justine Greer on the evergreen Isle of Hinton - they have made an excellent partnership and
Justine rode beautifully and came in with the second highest score from three rounds.
3 014 A.P.H. RODRIGO WOODHEAD (YR), JADE VIC 182(10) 201( 3) 194( 4) 577 62.04
Jade Woodhead and APH Rodrigo kept concentrated and working hard to achieve their best - she would be pleased
with the outcome - 3rd place overall. Jade told me that without the support of her sponsor Legend (rugs) she would not be at the competition.
Well done Jade ... well done Legend!
Linda Tacey from Legend told me how impressed she was to see Jade's enthusiasm and dedication.
"It has inspired me to 'get behind' the Young Rider movement - they are all wonderful"
4 016 APH SPIEGEL PRICE, SARA WA 195( 5) 184(13) 194( 4) 573 61.61
APH Spiegel and Sara Price from WA. Sara first took part in this event a few years back riding Legal Tender, the wonderful
Koenigsberg (Trak) stallion that she purchased from Liz Owens. Tragically, he was lost to colic and Sally Carter (mum of Emily)
from Cloverfern Stud in Riddells Creek came to the rescue and allowed Sara to ride her wonderful Trakehner stallion APH Spiegel.
5 066 DAYLIGHT BURGESS, BRIANA NSW 206( 2) 194( 5) 172(16) 572 61.51
 
Daylight (by Don Ramiro) and Briana Burgess from NSW - they have made great progress
since they were in Melbourne 12 months ago - well done Briana - and a pat on the back to Briana's trainer, Rozzie Ryan (above).
6 193 SIENNA TAILOR MADE HENDERSON, LISA VIC 178(13) 189( 9) 200( 1) 567 60.97
Anglo Arabian Sienna Tailor Made is a very consistent performer for Lisa Henderson and proves
that the Arab can make a very good performance horse when trained correctly from the start.
7 150 NV BRIARY HEYSEN HUNT, ELIZABETH SA 196( 4) 191( 6) 179(11) 566 60.86
NV Briary Heysen and Elizabeth Hunt from SA. Elizabeth gets a lot of help from her mum who is an A level Dressage judge.
8 213 TORLEA EVALUATION BOLMAT, KATRINA VIC 188( 7) 187(10) 187( 6) 562 60.43
Torlea Evaluation has been with Katrina Bolmat (and family) since he was young and he is
improving all the time. Katrina is a hard working career girl and yet makes time to travel out
from the city to progress her goals in Dressage. She is a great helper and supporter of the sport.
9 002 AEA DOUBLE DUTCH JACKS (YR), ELLIE VIC 202( 3) 185(12) 173(15) 560 60.22
AEA Double Dutch and Ellie Jacks have made excellent progress leading up to this competition. Double Dutch shows good
self carriage and lightness. He looks to be a pleasure to ride. Well done Ellie.
10 202 SUNBURY LODGE TORONTO DAWKINS, FLEUR VIC 174(16) 202( 2) 181( 9 557 59.89
Fleur Dawkins and Sunbury Lodge Toronto prove that working hard, pays dividends! Toronto performed very nicely in this test.
At the Judges' Clinic on Monday following the competition, Dr Mandi commented on Toronto's 3 excellent and correct paces.
Fleur acted as a 'guinea pig' rider and would have been gratified that such an experienced judge was so complimentary and encouraging.
11 070 DONIZETTI FYFFE, NICHOLLAS NSW 186( 9) 186(11) 183( 7) 555 59.68
Nichollas Fyffe on the ultra elegant Donizetti - certainly a combination with a great future.
12 018 ARGENTILLE SHAMADA DAVEY (YR), BRETT NSW 2 181(11) 184(13) 180(10) 545 58.60
Argentille Shamada and Brett Davey have taken part in this competition several times and he came in to
this year's event with strong prospects. Shamada seemed a little tight, so perhaps he did not travel as well as in previous years.
13 194 SILKSTON WOODYATT (YR), KYLIE NSW 187( 8) 179(15) 177(13) 543 58.39
Silkston and Kylie Woodyatt from NSW - a lovely horse and Kylie has great potential.
14 208 THE CARROCK TAMBO ALTHOFF, NATASHA VIC 173(17) 190( 7) 179(11) 542 58.28
The Carrock Tambo and Natasha Althoff - sorry for the poor quality photo.
This picture was taken indoors last year and the light was not sufficient for a good exposure.
15 024 BALMORAL ICE MC NAUGHT, FIONA VIC 180(12) 175(17) 176(14) 531 57.10
Fiona McNaught and her elegant TB, Balmoral Ice. This horse started life as an eventer
with high profile Olympic rider Amanda Howell (nee Ross) and has taken Fiona on a wonderful journey of learning.
16 196 SOUTHERN CROSS TAMARISK MC MAHON (YR), JESSICA VIC 166(20) 178(16) 182( 8) 526 56.56
Jessica McMahon and Tamarisk always catch my eye, as I love this loose and expressive grey. Jessica has progressed well
and each time I see them, I am amazed by the great improvement.
17 137 MY DIDGERIDOO BUCKLEY, SUSANNAH VIC 177(14) 166(19) 169(19) 512 55.05
Susannah Buckley and My Didgeridoo show a lovely extended trot - this elegant TB can really move!
A few little mistakes detracted from the overall quality, but some nice moments were observed by all.
18 021 AVOCA BLACK SAINT POOLES (YR), DANIELLE VIC 164(23) 172(18) 171(17) 507 54.52
Avoca Black Saint the part Clydesdale that took Victorian rider Leanne Williams from Preliminary to Grand Prix.
He has now stepped down to help Danielle Pooles learn the feel of the more advanced movements and today
they showed that they are making progress and have formed a good partnership. Lovely to see you looking so well, Ziggy.
19 152 PARTY ON WOLFE (YR), REBECCA VIC 175(15) 161(21) 170(18) 506 54.41
Party On is another seasoned FEI horse who has taken on the job of teaching a junior rider.
Samantha Bartlett (nee Hodges) started this TB early on and took him all the way to GP. He can get tense
but Rebecca Wolfe did well and showed us some of the highlights of his repertoire.
20 172 RIVERS II NIEUWLAND (YR), LILAH VIC 166(20) 164(20) 167(20) 497 53.44
Lilah Niewland has moved up from her lovely pony Commonella Folk Dance to Rivers ll, a horse who received most
of his training from the talented rider/trainer Ruth Schneeberger from South Australia. Lilah has made significant
improvement and we saw some glimpses of what is to come shining through in this test.
21 180 ROYAL TREASURE SANDERS (YR), BROOK NSW 167(19) 160(22) 162(21) 489 52.58
 
Brook Sanders from NSW has taken her compact galloway Royal Treasure (Mac) right through to this demanding level ... and should be
acknowledged for her hard work and fantastic achievements. I met Brook and her family for the first time at this competition and
their dedication and togetherness was powerful. It is really gratifying to see young riders like Brook coming through
the ranks and learning so much about preparing for a big event - this experience will give them a fantastic edge
as they mature and go on to bigger, purpose bred Dressage horses. Brook is trained by the enthusiastic coach Anne-Maree Lourey,
who also competed her two horses at this competition ... as did her 13 year old daughter Dimity.
Well done Brook we look forward to seeing you and the "Red Bellies" (that's car racing not horse racing) gang in Melbourne next year.
22 101 HOLLYBROOK BOSTON BADENOCH-REED (YR), JAMES VIC 170(18) 160(22) 157(22) 487 52.37
James Badenoch-Reed on my own Hollybrook Boston. This competition was always to be a very ambitious appearance
for James as he has only been riding serious Dressage for 9 months. When entering, we considered that it would be
12 months before he got the opportunity to go through such a demanding preparation and this experience would be
an invaluable learning experience - no matter what the result! It was certainly a very big undertaking and this
highlighted the lack of match practice. Well done James, it's good to see you take on board the lessons that come out of being
part of the Aachen Challenge. Boston is an Arabian Warmblood by the well respected stallion Kaliber.
23 145 NORTHERN CONQUEROR TENSER (YR), HOLLY NSW 2 166(20) 152(24) 147(23) 465 50.00
Holly Tenser on Northern Conqueror (Axel) by Northern Congress. Axel belongs to Holly's aunt ... and my
very close friend Tracey Mayhew, who is on study leave in the USA for a few years. I used to teach Trace and
know Axel to be a very good horse with a lovely nature and excellent paces - a perfect mount for a junior - lucky Holly.
. About 12 months ago Trace handed her boy over to Holly, and the first job was to get Axel back into working regularly, taking him
quietly and getting him fit. This came before she could begin to think of training or competing, "We are still getting there!" Holly said.
Holly was a disappointed with her Aachen Challenge ride, but Holly showed her aunt's grit and determination and put today's lessons into
practice and improved markedly to finally take out the Elementary Championship at the National Young Rider and Pony Dressage Championships
a few days later at this venue. Well done Holly and Axel.
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