The recent Nissan Easter Festival was a successful one for well-known dressage rider and coach, Siobhan Records, who won one of the Elementary classes and took home a host of other rosettes.
Records is an Equestrian Qualifications Authority of South Africa (EQASA) qualified coach and she also has her international teaching qualifications.
She has recently returned from a trip to the United Kingdom (UK), where she spent a day with Olympic medalist, Spencer Wilton. She said, “Spencer is an amazing, dedicated rider and I was lucky enough to watch him ride his Olympic horse, Stella Nova, and discuss training methods. It was an amazing opportunity and the best part is I come back and share what I have learned with my pupils and at clinics.”
Siobhan also taught in a two-day teaching clinic while she was in the UK.
“I loved it, but it was freezing,” she exclaimed.
At the Easter Festival held at Kyalami Equestrian Park recently, Records proved what hot competition she is, clinching a win in one of the Elementary classes, riding Neapolitano Theodora, a spunky Lipizzaner horse, who is said to get better and better as he moves up the grades.The horse-and-rider combination scored 71,595 per cent to win the class. They also placed fourth in the other Elementary class with a score of 68,421 per cent.
Records rode Rathmor Caprice in the Advanced 3 class and scored 68,661 per cent to earn third place.
In the Advanced 1 class, Records placed second with a score of 67,685 per cent riding Cheryl Kempin’s Equinox Padova.
She also competed in the Novice classes, riding Karen Alexander’s Cellehof Totaleur, and together the horse-and-rider combination placed fourth and fifth with scores of 71,429 per cent and 68,353 per cent respectively.
Riding Ride Away Raindancer, her mother, Lynda’s horse, in the Elementary-Medium classes, Records scored 64,231 per cent and 64,651 per cent to place third and fifth respectively.
She also competed on Claudia Privato’s El Encanto Sevilla in the Elementary-Medium classes, placing fourth and seventh with respective scores of 63,634 per cent and 64,231 per cent.
While she finished just outside the placings in the Prelim classes, Records described the performances of Claire Martin’s Martini Studs Caleda as ‘smooth’.
Together, the horse-and-rider combination reaped scores of 68,125 per cent and 63,654 per cent.
Records said Andre la Conte’s San Rubina competed in her first Prix St Georges class, ‘putting in a steady performance to finish fourth’.
Lynda explained that the dressage at the Easter Festival had seen an increase in the number of competitors, making it one of the top dressage shows on the equestrian calendar with top riders and horses competing in all grades.
“The classes were all hotly contested; one false step could cost you the class,” said Lynda.
“Tension was high but the dressage riders are quick to praise one another and often it was one mark that separated first and second place. This is the show to mark on your calendar for next year where you can enjoy some excellent horsemanship at all levels.”
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