Aberdeenshire riders made the 500-mile trip to Hartpury in Gloucestershire for the NAF Winter Championships.
Against some of the UK’s leading, professional dressage riders and securing a fantastic sixth in the Baileys Horse Feeds Novice Freestyle Gold and 10th in the Blue Chip Novice Silver class was Alford-based Sam Turpitt.
Sam also achieved the highest place amateur rider on her six-year-old Chestnut mare Bali Dancer who she bought as a two-year-old. Having backed and produced the mare herself, Sam juggles working full-time as an IT project manager with her horse riding and has competed at the Winter Championships four times.
Sam said: “Bali hasn’t been the easiest mare but she coped so well with the atmosphere and performed brilliantly against incredibly tough competition.
“Winning the award for the highest place amateur was the icing on the cake – I am a true amateur who works full-time and with hard work and dedication it really does prove that it is possible to achieve your dreams.”
Alice Pullem also travelled down with her young rising five mare High Fashion MFS after qualifying for the Novice Silver class. Getting through to the second round against a strong class, the pair achieved an improvement in their mark by 3% to be placed 16th overall.
Young rider Caitlin Padfield once again proved her talent in all disciplines with a score of 67.28% for 11th place in the Medium Silver Freestyle Championships. Riding her gelding Upside Down Van De Kwikaard (Sidney), Caitlin has already achieved fantastic results in eventing and dressage.
Competing in the same Medium Freestyle class, Stonehaven’s Sharon Lindop and her young horse Spielbanker were sixth, meanwhile his stable-mate Sandhaven produced a fantastic 10th result in the Petplan Inter1 on his fourth visit to the championships.
