Hill high on her horse's potential

Athens dressage Olympian Louisa Hill has finished her latest Australian campaign on a high after another podium finish at the Saddleworld Dressage Festival in Werribee.

She and her 10-year-old gelding Bates Antonello were second with 67.333% behind Australian champ Rachel Sanna and Jaybee Alabaster in the grand prix special, backing up a third placing in the FEI Pacific League World Cup final late Saturday night.

The combination have not finished lower than third in their entire two month campaign in Australia.
“It’s amazing really,” says Hill, “especially considering how green this horse is.”

While she faced some criticism for opting to keep her world cup freestyle test simple, she also had plenty of positive feedback from judges and others who saw the potential her lovely horse has.

“I feel it did the right thing keeping it simple,” she says. “Both of us need more mileage.”
And even better, is the knowledge that even with a few small mistakes, she was still gaining high percentages and podium placings.

“It is all feeling so much more secure now,” she says of her London campaign. “i Know what else he has to offer and when I get him going right, it is just amazing.”

Her efforts today (Sunday) were the highlight of her campaign.

“I know there is so much more to come from him – it is pretty exciting to do a bad test and still get marks like that.”

But even she admits she is her own hardest judge.

There wasn’t too much excitement in the Kiwi para-dressage camp with the team missing out to Australia on the one Oceania spot for the London Paralympics.

New Zealand still has the opportunity to gain individual positions for the Paralympics through the rider rankings list.

The bonus to come out of the Australian competition was Jenny Affleck (Otago), Ilona Lawrence (Blenheim) and Anthea Gunner (Christchurch) all gaining their certificates of capability for the paralympics.

They join Jo Jackson (Rotorua), Rachel Stock (Auckland) and Frances Dick (Nelson) as New Zealand para-dressage riders part way towards being eligible for selection for the 2012 Paralympics.
However, none of the six have yet met the strict selection criteria of Paralympics New Zealand and Equestrian Sports New Zealand.

Results -

Grand prix special: Rachael Sanna (Aus) Jaybee Alabaster 71% 1, Louisa Hill (Auckland/NZL) Bates Antonello 67.333% 2, Heath Ryan (Aus) Regardez Moi 65.792% 3.

Paralympic team qualification:
United States 1, Australia 2, New Zealand 3, Japan 4.