Georgie Goss and Feloupe put in their customary smooth test to slot into second at lunchtime on the first day of Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage today (7 May).
Georgie, who has been riding for Ireland for three years after being an under-21 medal-winner for Britain, achieved a score of 30.3 with her own, Suzanne Doggett, Lucy Fleming and Kelly Holmes’ Feloupe.
Her marks only dropped down for a mistake in the first flying change, which garnered a three from Angela Tucker at H.
“I’m just a bit annoyed with myself. She never misses the changes and I missed that first change, so I’m a little disappointed,” said Georgie Goss after her Badminton dressage.
“I thought we would have been more 27 or 28, but the judges haven’t been giving the marks away, and I did miss that change. She’s very consistent on the flat. She always goes in and does the exact same test at every single event – you get the odd judge love her and then other ones not but generally, she’s always sat in the in the higher scores.”
Georgie described the mare as “a quiet little angel” to work with except that “she doesn’t hack – that’s her downside”.
The rider – who was, as usual, sporting nails decorated for the mare she calls Lulu Lemon – said dressage is not her own strong suit, so it’s a joy to work with a horse like Feloupe on the flat.
She said: “Everything you put into her, you get out of her. She’s never going to blow, she’s never going to get tense. I always try and get in the arena early, so I get the applause from the horse before just to lift her a little bit more. But she’s so consistent.”
This is a third Badminton in a row for Georgie and the 16-year-old mare Feloupe, who have been 27th and 28th on their previous visits together, with cross-country time-faults preventing them from finishing higher up the order.
Bubby Upton, who went earlier in the session after the coffee break, leads on Cola at the lunchbreak.
The reigning British open champions Katie Magee and Angela Hislop’s Treworra, who followed Georgie into the arena, have claimed fifth at this stage behind first-session leaders Tom Jackson and United 36.
Katie said: “He was a really good boy. He stayed with me, did some lovely lateral work and he stayed nice and soft and relaxed. I think I could have been just a fraction more positive and pushed for the slightly higher marks, but he was brilliant.”
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