Our inspirational DBF Ambassador, Para Dressage Rider Mari Akhurst, is having a fantastic year and is going from strength to strength with both her equine teammates, Sky O’Hara and Bear.
It’s Sky’s turn to hit the limelight again after he and Mari turned in another fantastic performance, this time at Hartpury. Fantastic results like these are taking Mari ever closer to her dream of competing for Team GB in the Paralympics at Tokyo next year and there is no-0ne who could work harder to achieve their goal. This would be so well-deserved and we feel sure that with her incredible determination and dedicated back up team, Mari will be there.
See Mari’s report below.
Wow; how do I sum up the last week? I had an amazing time at Hartpury CPEDI3* with my team and my superstar Sky. The weather was glorious and Hartpury hosted us fantastically. Thank you to everyone involved and a big thank you to the chief steward.
Sky was on fire and produced 3 fantastic tests. In the Team test one judge had us to win with 76% and two 9s. In the individual the 5* judges gave me as high as 72%!! I was the highest place GB Grade 1 finishing behind a Brazilian (2nd) on the first two days and then beating them in the Freestyle! Hard work really does pay off. We rode the best individual test that we had ever done. It was fantastic to see the marks that we had from the 4*and 5* judges. The pilot was accurate for all 3 tests and was rewarded.
It was also great to be able to watch my trainer Rob Waine compete and to cheer him on. He had a fantastic show as well! Thank you to Rob for being amazing all week; we make such a good team. Thank you to mum and dad for being top grooms and carers and everything else and for my sister supporting us across the world!
A massive thank you to everyone who supports me and enabled me to compete at Hartpury.
The icing on the cake was winning the Freestyle on the last day by 2%. International Champions once again!! 🏆
Huge congratulations to Mari and Sky – we are so proud of them!
For more information, please check out Mari’s Facebook Page