Simone Pearce enjoys success at Mariakalnok CDI

By Equestrian Life

Sunday capped a great weekend of competition for Australian Simone Pearce at Mariakalnok CDI in Hungary. It was the first international dressage event (CDI) since coronavirus took hold, so many top riders were in attendance and keen to enjoy the competition arena once more.

Simone, who rides for Gestut Sprehe in Germany, has two horses at Mariakalnok - Montevideo 65 in the Small Tour and Destano in the Big Tour (CDI3*).

Simone Pearce and Montevideo:

CDI3* Prix St Georges - 1st, 71.569%
CDI3* Inter I - 2nd, 69.412%
CDI3* Inter I Freestyle (Small Tour Final) - 1st, 73.245%

“What a great way to finish Montevideo’s international show debut: winning the Small Tour final tonight in the Inter 1 Freestyle. To be honest we had never practised the test and I only got the music and the program on the way here, so it could have been a bit smoother but wow what a feeling this horse gives and just 8 years old... he's an absolute star of the future!” said Simone following the Inter I Freestyle.

Simone Pearce and Destano:

CDI3* Grand Prix - 2nd, 71.239%
CDI3* Grand Prix Special - 2nd, 73.106%

Both classes were won by Luxembourg’s Nicholas Wagner and Quater Back Junior FRH.

“Destano (finished in) 2nd place today in the Grand Prix Special with 73.08%. Today is a day of mixed emotions. I'm very very happy with our over all performance; and after such a long week of travel and competition and the extreme heat conditions here today, I was unbelievably happy with how much he stayed with me and gave me his all in the (Grand Prix Special) test. The feeling both in training and in the competition arena is incomparable with when we first started to compete 3 months ago - I really love and appreciate this amazing horse and I'm thoroughly enjoying getting to find each other as a combination," said Simone via Facebook following the Special.

"But I'm totally kicking my self that I made a mistake in both the 2 and 1 tempis, which lost us huge points. Usually I need almost no leg to do the changes or he's getting very hot and over active, but today he was tired and in this heat he really needed the extra support from my legs but unfortunately it took me both lines of changes with mistakes to change my approach. For the changes in between the pirouettes I used a lot more leg and they came off perfectly - so it's definitely a lesson well learnt for the future. But ok it's only our third ever show together and we are still learning and growing as a combination, so I think there is lots more to come with a little bit more experience behind us. Absolutely love and adore this amazing horse!”

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