Bryony Goodwin completed an impressive hat-trick of titles at the 2024 LeMieux National Dressage Championships, when her Topspec medium gold winner from yesterday, Dion II, served up a win in the Bret Willson advanced medium silver too.
The nine-year-old Dante Weltino son is making a name for himself on the British dressage scene after winning the elementary gold title here last year, but Bryony admitted she was surprised to come out on top at either level here.
“Dion’s new to advanced medium so I didn’t have great expectations, and the medium yesterday was such a hot class that I went in just hoping for a top five place,” she said.
“The medium’s his comfort zone, and I just wanted to give him a good confidence-giving round in the advanced medium. But he did such a super job, so that’s lovely and very exciting. For me, the fact he was confident enough for me to ride forward into the changes was the highlight, and his trotwork was lovely and supple which meant I could ride a nice, accurate test on him.”
Bryony explained that Dion’s rideability and trainability stands him apart, as does his overall frame and way of going.
“He stays out to the bit really well, and goes in a lovely rhythm while always giving the appearance of being relaxed, so the judges really like him.”
It can be tempting to push such talented horses, but Bryony is thankful to have a “super” joint owner in Sam Bolton, who’s happy to go at Dion’s pace.
“For Sam it’s all about the horse and the horse being happy, so we can go at the right pace for him. She’s not all about chasing wins and ribbons and sashes.”
And in the spirit of taking her time, Bryony’s decided not to campaign Dion towards the Winter Dressage Championships in the months to come.
“I think sometimes you can over-compete, and he has done brilliantly this year so we’re just going to train him this winter and hopefully next year he will come out at prix st georges (PSG).”
Already excelling at PSG is Bryony’s other National Dressage Championships winner, Krack DE, who won the Fairfax Saddles PSG silver earlier in the week. The 13-year-old, who’s owned by Antonia Brown, took a step down on the final day of the show to finish second to his stablemate Dion at advanced medium.
“Krack didn’t quite have the same power in some of his work today, as he was a little tired,” reflected Bryony. “He tried really hard for me and sometimes he can try too hard, so I’m pleased he could stay relaxed and do another test so nicely for me.”
Sarah Ingham described her HorseQuest elementary gold win with Mowgli S as “a long time coming”. It’s the first national title for the seven-year-old Spielberg gelding, whose trust Sarah has had to work to gain since buying him as a youngster.
“I’ve had him since he was three – I bought him after seeing him on Facebook – and although he was lovely he was really weak, and sharp too, so I didn’t compete him for a couple of years. But once he trusted me, he’s gone from strength to strength.”
Sarah Ingham and Mowgli S at the 2024 National Dressage Championships.
Sarah and Mowgli finished second at both their regional finals – “I’ve been the bridesmaid twice, so we came here with a job to do” – and took the win here with 73.56%, beating the score they qualified with.
But despite her determination to improve, Sarah said she tried hard not to overdo the training at home in the run-up to the National Dressage Championships.
“I have tried to keep things chilled and trust that he knows what he’s doing,” she said. “And in the test it was absolutely pouring down but he tried so hard. It felt amazing.
“I absolutely adore him,” added Sarah, who trains with Emile Faurie. “His temperament is his main strength – he is so trainable – and he doesn’t have a physical weakness. He’s so adjustable too.”
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