Equivet X Factor Dressage to Music

in Memory of Matthew Billing

Friday 13th November 2009

Oh What a Boy! – Oh What a Night!

 For full results click here.

The Equivet X Factor dressage to music championships at The Hand Equestrian Centre delivered everything that it had promised to with a spectacular combination of music, dancing horses and fun and games and everybody left the building on a high after the winner was announced.

This is the fifth year that organisers Helen Griffiths and Celia Gadd have staged their annual charity event and prior to this event the pair had raised over £25k for various charities. They started in 2004 with a Celebration of the Horse which was held at Badgworth Arena and raised £6,500 for WaterAid enabling a village in Africa to have their own water hole.. Three years ago the format changed to be what is now a well known event, in the format of the X Factor Dressage.

In the style of the popular TV programme, the audience vote for their eventual winner and that lucky person goes home with a cheque for £500.

 The judges had a tough job and in the day the panel consisted of Ali Burgess (music), Virginia Peters (Choreography), Lyn Baldwin (paces and way of going) and Helen and Celia (X Factor).

In the evening the entertaining panel were made up with Rhegan White (Canadian Grand Prix rider), Jason Durr (star of Heartbeat), and Ali Burgess and they kept the audience amused with their observations of each act.

 This year there were 42 competitors entered to ride their hearts out during the day for their place in the Equivet X Factor final. For the first time the competition was opened up to Novice/Elementary combinations and many used this opportunity to ride to music for the first time. There was a wide range of performances and the eventual winner was Ben St-John James and Wollinda who came from Hampshire where he runs a competition yard with Roland Tong. Sue Lanz on her own Friday Morning finished in second place and her wonderful costume as a clown had everyone smiling.

Sue bred Friday Morning and the horse went on to advanced eventing with a few different riders before coming home to Sue last year. Even though Sue had not ridden competitively for 36 years she decided to get out her boots and started again in dressage with this lovely horse. She describes them as ‘two retired old ladies having fun’.

 The other two qualifiers for the final from this class were the Bath Riding Club Quadrille with their wonderful performance of ‘Singing in the Rain’, and Kim Parker on her Connemara stallion Coole Lad.

 The second class was for the 16 and under’s and there were some great performances with the eventual winner being Lucy Grimshaw on Ben IV. This was the first time Lucy had ridden Ben who belongs to Florence Millington but she did a great job and the partnership looked secure, despite the fact she was dressed up as an aeroplane! In second place was Rebekah White on Martleaves Lady Skylark who really took the judges comments on board and came out in the evening final with a much stronger performance to win the Matthew Billing Trophy for the best rider under 16. The event was this year in memory of Matthew who tragically died last September with Sudden Teenage Death Syndrome. Son of great supporters of this event Jane and Rod Billing, the trophy was presented by Matthew’s younger brother Ted.

 The two charities to benefit from this year’s event were BBC Children In Need and CRY which is the charity that supports research on Sudden Death Syndrome.

 In the final class which was for medium level horses and above, the winner was Lucinda McAlpine on her wonderful 19 years young gelding who performed beautifully with Lucinda dressed up as Inspector Clouseau and riding to a variety of music including the Pink Panther.

 Lucinda and ‘What A Boy’ then went on to be crowned the Equivet X Factor Dressage to Music champions 2009 with a huge proportion of the audience votes.

 In second place were Dominique Mills and Diego Velasquez who was beautifully dressed in a stunning evening gown and rode to the poignant tunes of Evita with great style on her stunning grey.

Henry Boswell made the trip from Radway Riding School in Warwickshire with two horses and finished in third place with his wonderful stallion Margue who impressed the judges and audience with his Prix St Georges movements.

 Helen and Celia would like to say a huge thank you to all the helpers who made the night possible, and of course to the sponsors Equivet Animal Care, Murphy’s Saddlery, Property Concept, Bristol Marina, Print Design and Web Design, Special Branch Tree Surgery and Sue Carson Saddles.

 This was the first time that the relatively new company Equivet, have been involved with an equestrian event sponsorship but they really put their hearts into it with the branding of the arena on the night and their generosity with many prizes as well as an unexpected extra donation at the end of the night of £1,000 to BBC Children In Need.

 There has already been enquiries about next year’s event so watch this space!

Equivet - http://www.equivetanimalcare.co.uk/

Murphys Saddlery, Hewish Nr Weston Super Mare

Property Concept - http://www.propertyconcept.co.uk/

Bristol Marina - http://www.bristolmarina.co.uk/

Sue Carson Saddles - Becky Whitcombe http://www.suecarsonsaddles.co.uk/

Equine Tourism - http://www.equinetourism.co.uk/

Horse Hero - http://www.horsehero.com/

Better Bills UK   -   http://www.betterbillsuk.co.uk/

Sprout Rocking Horses - http://www.sproutrockinghorses.co.uk/

Special Branch Tree Surgery - http://www.special-branch.co.uk/

Website in a Tick - http://www.websiteinatick.co.uk/

James English Design - info@jedesign.co.uk

For further information or to request ticket or entry forms please email celia@celiagadd.co.uk