(British Dressage) – The British Dressage Supporters Club held their annual general meeting, Grand 2012 Dressage Ball and fundraising auction on Saturday, 28 Jan 2012 at the SAS Radisson Portman Hotel, London.

For the third year running British Dressage used the event as an opportunity to recognise the invaluable role of horse owners in our sport with three Shearwater Insurance Owner’s Awards. The awards were split across three categories: Elite Award, Grassroots Award and the Para equestrian Award. 

The Elite Award is presented to the owner of the horse producing an outstanding performance in Senior International competition.

Winner: Roly Luard

2011 marked an incredible year for Valegro and his co-owner Roly Luard. The 10 year old Negro-bred gelding’s meteoric rise to success with rider Charlotte Dujardin was punctuated with a team gold medal win at the European championships; a win which then catapulted the duo into dressage superstardom.

Their rise to the top was made all the more incredible by the fact that in just eight months they went from their grand prix debut, to playing a part in British dressage’s very first gold medal win.

It was almost a year today that the combination cantered down the centre line at Addington to make their first Grand Prix appearance where they won with 74.62% – just half a point over Carl. This was the start of a rollercoaster ride and a battle between master and pupil which captivated the dressage world.

A clean sweep of the Grand Prix and Special classes over the two weeks of Vidauban in France got the Continentals talking about the exciting new pairing. Success at Saumur and Fritzens really put them on list of names in contention for a European Championship place – but could they select on just six Grand Prix scores? Of course! Each time out, the percentages crept up and on home soil at Hickstead in July, they topped 78% for the first time in the Grand Prix for third behind Carl and Adelinde.

Rotterdam arrived and all eyes were on Britain – sure we had three team stalwarts in Carl, Laura and Emile but with three inexperinced horses and a new kid who’d never ridden a Freestyle Grand Prix who knew what they were capable of. ‘Blueberry’ captivated the crowds with his amazing ability, stunning work and generally ‘smiley’ way – Charlotte also won the onlookers with her style and finesse. Fourth in the Grand Prix with 78.83% helped Britain to gold – and a place in the history books. They finished sixth in the Special and ninth in the Freestyle – not bad for a first attempt! At the European Championships!

Olympia gave the British crowd a chance to see their new hero and finally witness just how special he is. Had the euphoria of team gold affected them? Not on bit – in fact they were stronger and joined the elite club of combinations to score over 80%. They won the Grand Prix with 81.04% and brought the house down, finishing behind Laura in the Freestyle with 83.70%. It’s exciting to imagine what 2012 brings for this little horse…

Roly also owned Escapado, who partnered Carl at the Athens Olympics in 2004, the Hagen European Championships in 2005 and won the National Champion title with him in 2004. Roly’s longstanding support to Carl Hester has been invaluable in the on-going success of British Dressage.

The Grassroots Award is presented to the owner of the horse producing an outstanding performance in grassroots level competition.

Winner: Adrian Wong

Adrian’s homebred eight year old gelding Samurai II (Sunny Boy x Fulton) has been blazing the trail with his 16 year old daughter Jodie Wong since June 2010, and in April 2011 the pair won the Petplan preliminary freestyle at the Winter Dressage Championships with a top score of 77.73%, the highest percentage over all the classes in the Area Festival Championships. Since then, they have amassed many wins at elementary, qualifying themselves for the 2012 Winter Regionals at that level.

Having competed himself since the mid nineties, Adrian made the decision to breed his own horses after being unable to find anything suitable within his budget. History repeated itself when Jodie took the ride on a late-backed, five year old Samurai II after she was unable to find the right pony after she outgrew her 13.3hh. “Originally the breeding was for me,” Adrian explained. “But now Jodie is able to benefit from it. Her jump from a pony to a 17hh horse was made easier by Samurai’s kind character; he really looked after her.”

Jodie and her father continue to work on her aspirations of making under-21 teams, with help from her trainer Gareth Hughes. The teenager is keen on making a career in the sport, and the family’s breeding regime continues. Adrian selects his mares with the fundamental belief that they must do a job and compete before breeding. He chooses his stallion lines based on a sire’s progeny, “I like to use a horse that breeds the finished article, not breed from the finished article itself.”

The Para-equestrian Award is presented to the owner of the horse producing an outstanding performance in Para-equestrian competition.

Winner: Sally-Ann Brown

The partnership between Grade Ia para rider Anne Dunham and Sally-Ann Brown’s Teddy began in 2006, when Anne took over the reins of the British-bred gelding. Just eighteen months later, in 2007 Teddy advanced from light hack to international championship winner, when he and Anne took all three classes for their grade at Moorsele CPEDI 3*. The following year, Teddy and Anne were selected to represent their country in the Paralympics, Hong Kong and brought home one silver and two gold medals.

In 2010, Teddy and Anne competed at Hartpury 3* and Mannheim 2* where they cleaned up in every class. This success led them to represent Team GBR for the second time at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky later that year, where they were part of the gold medal winning team.

In 2011 Teddy completed his tour of the top international championships by winning all three available individual golds at the European Para Equestrian Dressage Championships including helping Britain maintain our unbeaten record.

The British Dressage Supporters Club was founded in 1983 to support, promote and help improve British Dressage. To visit the BDSC website click here.

Photo Courtesy of British Dressage – Valegro