Alice Oppenheimer

An exciting year ahead is expected!

We have had a very busy month at Headmore, with lots of goings on! Between all of our dressage shows and Gayle being back jumping, there have been a lot of competitions!

Gayle and Roxy (Headmore Roxanne) completed their novice regional qualification with another win at Crofton, where Roxy and I started our elementary campaign with a win and a score of over 68%. We have since done two more elementaries, with a 1st and a 2nd and two confident over 70% tests, so it won’t be long before Roxy has also got her elementary summer qualification. She has also done her first Shearwater 6 year old class where, despite a rather tense and unsettled test after another competitor came off in the warm up, she still finished 3rd and qualified for the final.

Doris (Headmore Daydreamer now owned by Miscombe Limited), who is thriving on her Dengie diet and we welcomed back at the end of last year, has also restarted her competitive career. Now that we have regained her trust and confidence she started with an unsure test at Crofton to finish 3rd in the prelim with nearly 68% despite not having been to a show for 9 months. However, she then went on to win at Quob with 74.55% and Wellington with 78.36%, completing her regional qualification with Gayle and will now go out at novice.

We also took Evie (Elvedina) our accidental Brightwells purchase out to her first competition. She did a 5 year old shearwater class and we were thrilled with how she went, there were just a few green mistakes, but she still finished 5th and just missed out on qualifying. I have also been competing Future (Future’s Agessi), who has been winning at Novice with his owner Malene Garfield-Davies, at Elementary where we have had some good scores and placings and so will hopefully also complete our summer qualification at elementary before too long.
Amongst all of this, Bracks (Headmore Boadicia) competed in her first PSG at Merrist Wood scoring nearly 68% and 4th place in a strong class with a very green and wobbly test. If she can score that in her first attempt at the level then I can’t wait to find out what she will achieve when she is stronger and more established!
Wiz (Wurlizer) also had his first outing since the 2011 Nationals at Merrist Wood. We have spent the winter training and consolidating all of the Grand Prix work and, despite a six month break from competing, he felt much more confident in all of the Grand Prix work and was much more rideable, resulting in a win with over 65% so I can’t wait for the rest of the season as I think he will just get better and better!

Gayle has also been back jumping and Dolly (First Diamond), who i was riding all winter when Gayle was off, is already back out jumping Foxhunter so Gayle is really pleased and excited for her forth coming season as well.

The wildcards for the Winter Championships were also released, and I was very pleased when I found out that Bracks had been awarded a wildcard in all four of her classes, so she will be competing in the medium and advanced medium open, as well as the freestyle classes at both levels at Hartpury, so we will be very busy!

We have also had a couple of new arrivals, one ia a new face and one is a familiar one! We have welcomed back Tank (Headmore Wimoweh), now owned by Joanne Graham-Whelan, for us to train and compete, and he has already done his first four year old class where he was beautifully behaved and finished a close 4th, just missing out on qualifying. We have also welcomed Mischief (Tantoni White Mischief) owned and bred by Georgina Pole-Carew, a rising 4 year old 16hh bay mare by San Amour, who will contest four year old classes later on in the year.

It certainly looks like we could have an exciting year, let’s hope so!