Title: Navigating Travel Chaos: Laura Tomlinson’s European Dressage Journey
British Olympic dressage rider Laura Tomlinson on recent travel chaos and her European campaign
Having recently come back from European soil, it feels like the competition season is well on its way. From epic journeys due to strikes in Calais, resulting in changes of plan, to a variation in how the new noseband device was implemented, it’s been an adventure to say the least.
First, I was at Addington CDI with my home-bred nine-year-old, Full Moon, who was making his international grand prix debut – and it was also my first time competing internationally with my cousin’s lovely horse, Issey.
It was a great way to test the waters at that level, and both horses performed well, giving me the confidence that they were ready to travel further afield and gain valuable experience.
They certainly gained mileage, although not quite as we had planned.
On the Wednesday, we set off for Dover but had to turn back due to strike-related delays and being denied a place on either the tunnel or the ferry. The horses then came home and spent the rest of the day in the field, to be reloaded in the evening to head to Portsmouth.
A six-hour ferry followed, then a few hours’ rest at a yard in Rouen before heading on to their final destination, Lier in Belgium.
The horses finally arrived late on Thursday, and I must say I was nearly in tears by the time I had the boys off the lorry, walked them and put them to bed.
Had it not been a Nations Cup show, we would have given up, but thanks to my super-groom, Hannah Smart, the boys looked in great nick and by the time Issey had to compete, he was as happy as if he were at home.
In action
Issey was first to go for the team and the first to go out of the whole class, and I was delighted with his calm, clean test. Of course, there is room for more oomph in the future, but it was every bit the confidence-giving round I’d hoped it would be for him.
As always at these things, the World Class support team were fabulous and it was great to part of a team with Lottie Fry, Andrew Gould and Lewis Robertson-Carrier. We came fourth as we lacked the one extra-high-scoring pair, but we were definitely the most consistent team.
Issey and I then did our first-ever special, and he proved himself to be rather reliable in the ring.
“Moony” had a couple of easy days in Belgium while Issey was doing all the work, but come Sunday evening, we travelled two hours over to Germany to compete at Aachen CDI3*.
Now it was Moony’s turn to take the helm, and – despite being green – he felt like an old pair of your comfiest slippers.
He, too, did a quiet and clean grand prix in the big stadium – a great experience for a young horse to take in that kind of environment, but without the full hype and intensity of the usual CDIO5* atmosphere at Aachen.
Noseband measuring device
It was interesting that in Lier, the tack, spur and noseband check happened after the test, but in Aachen, it was done beforehand.
The stewards in Aachen argued that if a horse fails the noseband check before the test, there’s still time to adjust it. But if you fail the check after the test that means you’re disqualified.
We also saw some interesting adaptations of padding on the sides of noses so that the tester could easily fit the measuring device down the front without the sides being too loose.
It will be interesting to see how things adapt and settle within this new system. Most importantly, no British riders had any troubles.
My next stop will be an easy journey to Wellington CDI3* with Issey, and then it will be Full Moon’s turn to fly the Nations Cup flag in Rotterdam. Hopefully, we’ll be back to a normal journey across the tunnel, without any delays. Luckily, Moony is like a big dog and thinks life is one big adventure anyway, so he’s quite happy to give it all a go!
With a fourth spot seemingly wide open for the European Dressage Championships this summer, the next few competitions will be exciting for several combinations – it’s all to play for, and I feel privileged to be in the potential mix.
