‘Tune him in and take a breath’: Emily King finds the key to ‘hot’ Valmy Biats to move into contention at Badminton

Emily King has put herself well into the reckoning with an impressive Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage test on the second day of competition. Emily was one of the favourites coming into the event on the strength of a win in hot competition at Thoresby CCI4*-S with a 23.2 dressage in March, and cracked the sub-30 barrier to score 29.2 at Badminton, to lie fifth at this stage.

Valmy scored 31 in this phase last year, and showed a marked improvement 12 months on – there are only five riders so far scoring below 30. This pair started with an 8.5 for their halt and salute and the 15-year-old gelding showed lovely balance and cadence to earn some great marks, including a nine for their extended canter.

“I’m really pleased he was so rideable as he’s a very sensitive, hot horse who constantly thinks about everything, so it’s about tuning him in and getting him to take a breath,” said Emily. “I wanted to do a mistake-free test, taking a bit of the flair out and being really precise.”

They lost marks for the mid-test halt, which was rushed, and then the rein back was a little tense – but that was really the only mistake you could pick out in a beautiful test overall. The work wasn’t quite as consistent as Ros Canter and Izilot DHI’s leading test, and that made the difference, as their best work was certainly on a par.

“We had one little jig, and on the canter stretch he felt a bit keen to get out on the cross-country – I thought he might exit the arena.

“He’s so much more uphill than he used to be, he has a lot of knee action but he’s needed to learn to sit and open his stride up, and he’s been getting stronger. He’s 15 now, but he’s still fit and strengthened up and keeps feeling better. He’s going to be the best 20-year-old event horse!”

Emily has been running him on soft ground this spring, gallops him on grass, and Valmy lives out in the field, so she is hopeful that he’ll cope with tomorrow’s going, should it be holding.

Badminton Horse Trials dressage: fulfilling childhood dreams

The pair before Emily , US rider Allie Knowles and the British-bred Morswood, are capable of sub-30 dressage scores at this level, having notched 28.8 at Maryland CCI5*. But it wasn’t to be today, with a few mistakes pegging their score back to 35.6.

The 16-year-old Ricardo Z gelding produced an expressive and forward test in a consistent frame, earning himself consistent sevens and the odd eight in the first half. He was let down by a fidgety halt before the rein-back, and some late flying changes, causing the marks to slipped a little.

“He can do better but there’s a lot of atmosphere so I’m not too disappointed,” said Allie. “This is my childhood dream to ride at Badminton, so I’m trying hard not to be disappointed with any part of the experience because it’s massive to be here. We can move up from here and he’s a cross-country machine.”

Also in this Friday-morning group of Badminton Horse Trials dressage tests, Felicity Collins produced a pleasing performance on the out-and-out jumper RSH Contend Or, for 34.5, good enough for the top 20 at this stage.

“He tried so hard, almost too hard,” said Felicity, who had to ride with a flapping boot distracting her. “He went a bit early in two of his changes – that’s his thing; he associates a flying change with doing a jump so they’re very exciting. But I don’t think I’ll be remembering my dressage mark by tomorrow. There are a lot of areas on the cross-country where you could have a problem.”

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