Former Huntly pupil aims for British Dressage squad call up
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A GRANGE teenager is on course to ride with the GB British Dressage Young Rider Squad before she’s 21.
Local dressage rider Matilda Haley and her partner Go, or Arlo to his friends, have secured a hotly contested place for the British Dressage Winter Championships to be held at Hartpury College, Gloucester in April.
Matilda (18) a former pupil of The Gordon Schools took part in the British Dressage Winter Regionals, which cover the whole of Scotland, earlier this month at Morris Equestrian Centre near Kilmarnock.
In dressage, both horse and rider are judged on how they perform set movements.
Matilda currently on a gap year before going to Aberdeen University said: “We were competing in the advanced medium silver, freestyle to music, to amazing music from the film Tarzan.
“It was a class with some very tough competition, every one of us could have taken that title, so it was a wonderful surprise when I heard we had won.
“Arlo and I still need to establish ourselves firmly at this level, so it is exciting to know that there’s still more in there, he is such a trier.”
Matilda last qualified for the winter championships in 2016 with her old partner Watch Me, aged just 14.
Her trainer is Jennifer JohnstonHarman who is based near Kintore.
Matilda added: “I was very grateful to have Jennifer with me ringside to focus both Arlo’s and my brains before we went in to compete. She has phenomenal knowledge and just gets how we tick as a partnership.”
