Pony Club Dressage: Lots of hardware for debutante

Rebecca Aplin and Woodlands Park Light O Day with their trophy haul after the New Zealand Pony Club Dressage Championships in Dannevirke. Photo / Alison Price Spot-On Photography

Dream debuts on the national equestrian scene don't come much better than what Hawke's Bay dressage rider Rebecca Aplin experienced at the weekend.

In her first outing at the New Zealand Pony Club Dressage Championship in Dannevirke, the Central Hawke's Bay 12-year-old, who rode Woodlands Park Light O Day, won five awards including the top prize for a junior.

"I am so pleased to have been chosen for the Hawke's Bay team and I'm so proud of my pony," Aplin said afterwards.

One of Aplin's trophies was a new one named in honour of Lynley Price, who ran the championship as the pony club dressage chairwoman for 15 years.

"I feel very honoured that Hawke's Bay have donated an award in my name and I was absolutely delighted with the trophy which I was pleased to present to a Hawke's Bay rider," Price said.

Aplin's scores, combined with top placings from her team members, contributed to the Hawke's Bay team's third place, their best in 15 years.

Fellow junior Tess Gordon, riding Aatahua Captivate, and senior Dannevirke rider Willa Aitken, on Kirkwood Greenlight, were alsoprominent.

Other team members, Sarah Marett on Tui's Minstrel, who won the Level 3 Championship, Olivia Goggin riding JK Legacy and Emma Dunderdale riding Alonzo Fanticy also scored highly in their tests.

The event, which was held over two days at the Dannevirke Showgrounds, was a special occasion. Teams from the South Island and the North Island only compete at the same venue every four years, making a genuine national competition.

Riders from Otago-Southland and Canterbury areas made the trek north for the champs.

The Canterbury team was sixth in the team competition with team member Jordan Shrimpton, riding Mister Puzzle, picking up two high placings in the championship classes.

"The venue was ideal, it made for that feeling, of a very important event, which it was," said Hazel Thomson, president of the Pony Club Manawatu-West Coast Area.

Dressage is usually an individual sport and all participants enjoyed the team aspect.

Teams were made up of three senior and three junior riders and placings were determined by the top four scores from both days.

"The consistently high results by the team meant that every score could potentially count," Hawke's Bay team coach Anna Williams said.

"Points at the top were very close with only a few percentage points between first and third."

Williams, herself a past competitor at Pony Club Dressage Championships, now rides at national level 5.

"We are lucky to have Anna as our coach," Tony Marret said.

"Competing at a high level, yet herself a young rider, she relates well to a young team."

These champs are busy for the riders, as every rider also enters supporting classes, apart from their championship ones, which include dressage in pairs, in fours as a quadrille and with little jumps included - prix caprilli.

- Final scores for the top three teams were: Franklin Thames Valley Area Pony Club 551.8 points; Taranaki Area 542.2 points; Hawke's Bay Area Pony Club 539.8 points.