Local Story


Eilidh Roberts and Flashy Rocko


Robyn Smith and Spencer


Carole Wright with Chocolate Magnum South East Scotland Dressage Group


host ‘An Evening with Olivia Towers’ Report by Gemma Williamson, photos by Dave Cameron Photography


T


he South East Scotland Dressage Group hosted an evening with Olivia Towers Dressage back in November at the Scottish National Equestrian Centre. Olivia was presented with a wonderful selection of demonstration horses with riders showing their dressage moves across all levels from prelim to grand prix. With a crowd of over 200 people, this was one of Olivia’s largest presentations to date. The rider stated: “This had to be my most enjoyable demo to date and each of the riders handled the atmosphere like pros. We had a wide variety of horses, which was so interesting to see that all shapes and sizes can do dressage with good training.”


The evening started with Carole Wright and her super cob Max, former British Riding Club championship winners, taking the audience through the stages in producing a fantastic medium trot. Olivia then worked with Katherine Tullie and her talented, up-and-coming five year old chestnut mare, showing the audience the beauty of a balanced counter canter. Next to take the stage was the up-and- coming BD Youth Rider Eilidh Roberts where Olivia discussed leg-yields and polished the simple changes. The SESDG’s very own committee member, multi talented dressage and event rider, Linda Faulks brought forward her part Clydesdale, Bentley to demonstrate the


Olivia Towers and SESDG Junior member Lauren Higgins at the meet and greet


myself. Thank you Olivia and SESDG for such a great evening.”


Linda Faulks and Bentley


suppleness required for the shoulder-in and half-pass. Last but certainly not least, Robyn Smith, U25 grand prix rider brought her stunning grand prix horse Spencer out of retirement to wow the crowds with pirouettes and a fantastic run of one time changes. Olivia talked the audience through the importance of preparation, patience and positive training whilst working at the higher levels, allowing the audience to witness the amazing end results.


Linda Faulks shared with us that “Olivia has a wealth of knowledge and is very encouraging”, whilst Katherine Tullie expressed: “What a great experience, I was really glad to have the chance to bring my young horse to a bigger atmosphere the demo offered, with the calming influence of


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Olivia helping us along.” Robyn Smith added: “It was such a lovely evening bringing Spencer out of retirement, working alongside someone with the same training principles as


A huge thank you to Olivia Towers for joining the South East Scotland Dressage Group here in Scotland and providing a spectacular demonstration evening, and thank you to everyone who came along to support this event. Olivia will be joining the South East Scotland Dressage Group for 2020, so watch this space.


Katherine Tullie and Ginger


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