Dressage is a family affair

Mother and daughter, Frankie Webb, left, and Louise Duncan have qualified for the national championships and Horse of the Year show.

A Levin mother and daughter are climbing the Dressage New Zealand National Challenge leaderboard after successful results at two regional championships.

Frankie Webb and daughter Louise Duncan competed at both the Northern and Southern Hawke's Bay championships finishing in the top 10 National Challenge rankings in their respective levels.

At the Northern Hawke's Bay regional championships, Webb and Northern Ivanthus won the Level 7 National Challenge class - the FEI Intermediate 1, combined with a Zilco Musical class placing where the combination claimed the overall champion title for Level 7.

Consistency the following weekend at Southern Hawke's Bay regionals saw Webb and Northern Ivanthus finish in second place, riding test 7B for the first time.

Finishing third in the National Challenge Intermediate 1 and in the Zilco musical meant the combination claimed the Level 7 Reserve Championship title.

Duncan and Wolkenstein BC showed great form following almost a full season out after the horse sustained a paddock injury in January.

They took a number of placings at Northern Hawke's Bay to win the Reserve Level 5 Championship.

With placings at Southern Hawke's Bay in the Level 5 National Challenge and Zilco musical class they just missed out on reserve champion but finished in fourth place on the regional leaderboard for Level 5.

Webb and Duncan have already achieved scores qualifying them for both the New Zealand Dressage championships being held next February at Manfeild, and for the Horse of the Year show in March at Hastings.

Webb has placed at Horse of the Year for the past two years and is hoping success at regionals on the same grounds is a lucky omen for the 2017 Show.

"My horse obviously loves this ground. He's on form - it's just me making the mistakes," said Webb.

The women would be one of the few mother and daughter combinations riding at the national events.

They drew national media attention as one of the first mother/daughter combinations riding for New Zealand at the FEI World Dressage Challenge at Feilding in October this year.

At that event Duncan finished ninth in the country in the Advanced class, while Webb was eliminated on a technicality, frustrating for a rider who knows the routine well and on another day could "almost do it blindfolded".

A riding accident the week before caused her some lack of form.

"That's horses and riding. You just have to move on," Webb said.

Duncan was excited by her own result, confident her horse has returned to full form following his injury.

"My horse loves being ridden. He tries really hard," said Duncan.

"He hated being left at home when we were heading off to the shows."

Duncan will not know her world ranking until next year.