Quiet riding pays off for prelim gold winner at National Dressage Championships

Jezz Palmer has been one of the busiest riders at the 2024 LeMieux National Dressage Championships, and having already taken the KBIS four-year-old title with Premier, he added the Centre Line prelim gold title to his haul on the final day of the show, riding Lucy Reynolds’ Olaf TC.

This Kevin x Ravel five-year-old is another to watch for the future, and he certainly impressed the judges here, with scores of nine for the canter work and the medium walk adding up to a super total of 77.24%.

Jezz credits his friend and trainer Dannie Morgan for being his “eyes on the ground” while warming up today, and for encouraging him to take a less-is-more approach with Olaf, who, according to Jezz, has a tendency to “tip over the edge”.

“Dannie told me to leave him as he was, that he looked good, and trusting him paid off – I did the right thing by sitting more quietly. His canter felt unbelievable today – it’s amazing to sit on as it’s really off the ground – and the trot was perfect for what we needed in this test.

Jezz, who had five rides in total today, also finished third in the class aboard another exciting four-year-old, Platinum SNW, whom he describes as “like a toy to ride”.

“He’s only four, but he came here, coped with the atmosphere and held his own. And he’s not the bravest of horses, so I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

“She disapproved of the rain today”

Becky Moody’s seven-year-old winner, Magic Dream, added another title to her 2024 National Dressage Championships collection when the pair squeaked past Matt Frost and Kerouac to take the Bret Willson International advanced medium gold.

The Governer mare has been busy this week, coming second in the overall Fairfax Saddles prix st georges championship before taking the seven-year-old title.

“She’s a horse who always has energy so even today she was really up for it and ready to go,” said Becky, who had to endure heavy rain for her advanced medium test as the rain started coming down with force at Somerford Park, and credits changing into fresh, dry gloves just before entering the ring as being a game changer for coping with the wet conditions.

“Interestingly, she was a bit spooky today. It was her fourth time in that arena and she hasn’t been at all spooky so far. I think she was disapproved of the rain and everything just looked a bit shiny and different,” said Becky. “She spooked as we entered and we broke to trot, and during the changes on the serpentine she had a look at something in front of her. But apart from that it was a nice, easy, consistent test.”

The pair finished on a high, gaining a 10 for their final halt, and had lots of eights scattered across their test sheet, particularly for the pirouettes and lateral work.

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