Last year they won the Inter I Freestyle but at this year’s LeMieux National Dressage Championships, South Yorkshire’s Becky Moody and nine-year-old Carinsio (by Painted Black) went one better to claim the Monarch Equestrian Inter II Gold Championship title. The gelding, owned by Anne and Patrick Moody and Julie Lockey, won convincingly with 73.66% ahead of Gareth Hughes on new ride, Don Carissimo, who scored 72.11%.
Becky has had the horse since he was three and has progressed easily up the levels, dominating the small tour classes in 2015. This was only their fifth go at Inter II, having won at three Premier Leagues over the summer but this result gave them a new personal best by 2%. “I was really pleased with how the horse went and there were a lot of super combinations in the class so I’m feeling good!”
This polished combination showed lots of great work in their test, “I was really pleased with the canter pirouettes. It was a nice safe clear round though there’s still lots of room for improvement. He needs to get a little stronger and his passage needs to be a little sharper but overall it was a good solid test.”
Jack, as he’s known at home, can be a character, “he’s a really funny horse, when I’m doing things – trotting, cantering and keeping busy – he’s absolutely brilliant, he’s not spooky and it doesn’t faze him. The hardest thing is when you’re walking and he’s got time to think about what’s around him. So I was pleased that we actually did walk!”
Next year will see the combination aim to step up to the next level once again, “I would like to think that training the horse to Grand Prix has always been our goal with him. I have brilliant support from my trainer David Hunt and he is a big believer that you should always be aiming for that, so he was ready for the step up to Inter II because of the training we’d been putting in along the way. He’s stepped up really easily. Next year he’s going to go proper Grand Prix and I’d like to do some internationals with him then.”
