British championship debutante reflects on Blenheim Europeans dressage: ‘We could have done better, but this isn’t our strong point’

British individual rider Caroline Harris holds seventh at the lunch break on the first day of Agria Blenheim European Championships dressage (18 September).

Riding D. Day, owned by Lucy Matthews, Fiona Olivier, Marie Anne Richardson and Heather Royle, Caroline scored 34.4 for her test this morning. The 35-year-old competitor makes her championship debut this week, having sprung to prominence when she won the French five-star at Pau Horse Trials last autumn.

The 11-year-old D. Day looked quite bright in the arena today, with his ears firmly forward, and his work was at times a little tense. But he and Caroline Harris presented a neat picture in their Blenheim European Championships dressage, with D. Day showing a good uphill frame.

They had one expensive moment when the horse jogged at K toward the end of the walk work – he scored fours across the board for this movement.

“I think we could have done the whole thing a lot better to be honest, but it’s our first championship, we tried hard, and this isn’t our strong point, so hopefully the cross-country will prove tricky on Saturday,” said Caroline.

“He actually got more tense than I thought he would going in there. He’s normally very relaxed and he did just go a bit, ‘Oh gosh’ when he went in and then he jogged in the walk, so that was a real shame.”

Caroline described D. Day as “a real happy character”.

“You’ll never get a picture of him without his ears forward. He’s a lovely person and he tries really hard, but he’s not built to do any of this stuff,” she said.

“He’s felt brilliant coming into this, on really good form. I’m just so proud of him for being here, because he’s not a big, flashy horse. He is what he is and we do our best, but he always gives me 100% so I can’t ask any more.”

On her first team experience so far, Caroline said: “It’s amazing and it’s so lovely to be at a home championship. I have so many people here supporting me

“Everyone [in the British camp] has been so supportive. I couldn’t really ask for a better group of people. It’s lovely to be involved in a team, really special.”

Britain’s first team rider, Yasmin Ingham (Rehy DJ), holds second at this stage, with Germany’s pathfinder Libussa Lübbeke (Caramia 34) in pole position. The next rider for the British team, which runs in partnership with Agria, is Piggy March (Halo) at 2.58pm.

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