Alice Oppenheimer

Alice Oppenheimer joins the Dengie Supported Riders

October is usually a bit of anti climax following the finish of our main season. Having had a fantastic Nationals, with Headmore Delegate gaining two second places, I was looking forward to a quiet October. It started out with a brilliant bang however, as my working relationship with Dengie began! We have fed Dengie for as long as I can remember, and every horse on the yard is fed a Dengie product as the main constituent of their feeds so, as you can imagine, I was very pleased and excited to start working with Dengie.
With regards to competing, I have been trying to get myself organised and get all of my horses qualified for the Winter regionals, as I had been a bit slow! Mum and I took Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) and Del (Headmore Delegate) to Sparsholt on 3rd October, having borrowed a lorry as ours was being plated. Bracks was first on in the elementary freestyle to music. She went fairly well, scoring 72.5% and finishing 3rd, so just missing out on a qualification. We then did the medium freestyle to music, which was probably a bit ambitious as she is still very green at medium, but she went better in this test and scored a massive 77.37% and winning, which was amazing as she had never competed at medium before! It was then Del’s turn in the advanced medium qualifier, and, following his success at the Nationals, I thought I would try to ride him with more power. We definitely had plenty of power, but this led to a few wobbles here and there, but it was still good enough to score over 73% and win. Once I can keep that power contained, who knows what Del could score! We also took Bracks and Dante (Headmore Downtopia) to Crofton Manor on 26th and 27th. Dante competed at elementary in only his third and fourth tests at the level. I was really pleased with him as he felt very secure in the work. He won both classes, the first with 71.03% and the second with 72.14%, scoring a 10 in the process! Bracks was competing in a double bridle for the first time, and she was also doing her first straight medium tests. She was very green and wobbly in the first test but still scored 66.67%, which was good enough for second place. However, in the second test, she felt much more confident and the medium level work felt much more secure. This time she scored 70.88% and won, which we were very pleased with for her first outing at medium.
I also had a regional foundation squad training session this month. I took Zué, a 6 year old Lusitano stallion who is owned by Sherie Vicary-Carter, to my lesson at High Meadows with Jill Day. Zué was a very good boy and went beautifully, and Jill was pleasantly surprised at how well he moves. She said that if we pulled his mane you wouldn’t know that he wasn’t a warmblood! I also had a session on the mechanical horse with Michelle at High Meadows. This was surprisingly hard work, but it was very beneficial as I was able to really concentrate on myself as I didn’t have to worry about the horse. I’m glad that I only had to ride one mechanical horse though!
In addition to all my riding, I finally passed my lorry test. It took me three attempts but I managed it eventually! I managed to wind myself up to the extent that I wanted to cry before the tests, but I just about kept it together the third time! Give me a million dressage tests any day!

Alice