There were nine classes in total, all requiring complete discipline and determination given the intricacies of the sport, horse and rider needing to be uniformed in both skill and harmony whilst performing.

Day one consisted of the National Team Championships, the Individual Novice class, Purebred Arabian class (Novice) and the three classes held at Preliminary level - Seniors, Juniors and the newly introduced Children’s Special class.

Day two saw the higher levels of Advanced Medium, along with the Medium and Elementary classes.

Novice, Elementary, Medium and Advanced Medium classes consisted of two parts: a set test followed by a Dressage to Music test, designed and choreographed by each rider. Both scores were tallied.

The premier event was the Advanced Medium class, which was duly won by top rider Joanne Ivemey. Ivemey, riding for Desert Palm Stables, has been a consistent competitor throughout the season and was thrilled to win the Championships. Ivemey’s big bay gelding Archimedes was on fire and although the scores were tight, it was a well deserved win on the night.

Said the winning rider: “Even though I was really pleased with our tests I really didn’t know if we’d won until they called my name. All riders were extremely close in points and it could easily have gone to any of us. I was thrilled with the results, Archie really pulled it together today.”

Royal Stables Charlotte Drakeley and EEC’s Janice Jackson were in a nail-biting battle for the runner up position. Drakeley, riding Ronaldo held the second position by an extremely narrow .02%. Although Jackson’s Kϋr was the superior test, it wasn’t quite good enough to beat Drakeley’s first test advantage.

The Medium Class saw less than 1% separating the winner and runner up. A class with very equal competitors saw little discrepancy between the first three placegetters after the initial test.

Christel Langlois was leading on her Arabian Stallion RS Kahraman, followed closely by Courtney Delport on her Andalusian stallion Lancero.

Tracy Gill riding the Latvian warmblood mare Picarda was in third place until her turn around crowd pleasing performance in the Kϋr, ridden to tango, shot them into the lead, winning the Medium Championships.

Picarda’s owner Shreya Radia was heard saying “For the first time I was glad to be stuck in Dubai having gotten to watch Picarda’s Kϋr test and seeing her win!” Radia was due have flown back to university in the UK on Friday but is currently one of the many stranded due to the Icelandic volcano situation.

Langlois finished in second position and Delport held on for third which was quite an achievement considering her partnership with the stallion being new this season.

The Elementary class was quite action-packed, with less than 2% between the top four finalists.

Cristina Calin-Thompson riding the imposing Apollo’s Mastermind started with an impressive lead after the first test, but a repeat of the strong performance in the Kϋr wasn’t to be seen. Apollo, over reactive to the music, almost gave the win away with a very tense performance, narrowly holding on to beat EEC’s Lesley Jones on her mare Kengarth Danielle. Christine Khairallah also riding for the EEC finished in third riding the Polish bred gelding Lubo.

The Novice class saw the winner and runner up take a strong lead after the first test. Both riding for EEC, Tanja Bornmann on her big chestnut mare Excelsia Royal, and EEC instructor Franck Fogarolo riding the school horse Dans Boy battled it out in the two tests with Bornmann taking the honours. Fogarolo bettered his position from last year’s third by finishing second.

This year’s third place was awarded to Jennifer Murray from Desert Palm Stables, riding the endearingly floppy-eared grey gelding So So Salsa.

The Pure Bred Arabian class (novice) was, as always, an elegant display. The ever consistent rider from W’rsan Farm Ebrahim Lamhireche took the trophy riding the stunning grey stallion Al Khattar W’rsan.

Having finished fourth in the same class in the championships last year, Lamhireche was thrilled to be the one taking the podium position this season.

Royal Stables riders Hope Revell riding RS Mishaal and Madeline Drakeley riding Sugar Creek Willy finished in second and third place respectively.

In the Senior Prelim class, Kelly Schmitt, the youngest rider in the class, took the spoils with the in-form mare Dancing Queen. Lucy Chalcraft achieved a great result with her young horse Flagmount’s Crackerjack to finish second.

Chalcraft qualified for the championships in less than half a season competing and was really happy with the result commenting, “I knew Dancing Queen would be hard to beat, but I am really pleased with Jack”.

Denise Vertigen riding the school horse Willie with a very consistent test finished third.

The Preliminary Juniors class showcased some of the county’s talented young riders, and ones to look out for in the coming seasons. Cyndi Faber from Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club rode the best test to take the winning trophy on her mare Boeing.

Alyssa Ritters rode a lovely test to take second on her dun pony aptly named Dunabit. In third place, following in her mother’s footsteps, was the youngest rider in the class Sarah Khairallah, riding EEC’s Holly.

The inaugural Preliminary Children’s Special class (preliminary) was won by the young rider Sophie Brown on Smokey, with Hannah Ratclliff finishing in second on Monsieur and Fionn Conway third on Dooneen’s Sport.

UAE Dressage Coordinator Lilian Sternvad commented “We, the UAE Dressage Group, have introduced this class to encourage the much younger Junior riders. Dressage has seen a positive increase in participation at affiliated level and this gives us a chance to acknowledge and encourage the younger generation of riders”.

The National Team Championships saw the teams accumulate points throughout the season. A team consists of four riders: three senior and one junior rider. For each event the top three scores of each of the four team members are counted, and this goes toward the accumulative team score.

These four qualifying teams included some of the country’s top dressage riders and made for great viewing. This year saw the very strong Royal Stables team too hard to beat in the finals.

The winning team consisted of Christel Langois, Charlotte Drakeley, junior rider Madeleine Drakeley and fourth team member that was unable to compete on the night, Mikaela Brockstrom who was unavoidably stuck in the UK.

The judges unanimously agreed that not only the interest and number of competitors but the level of dressage in the UAE continues to improve each year.

“Each year in the UAE we see development in the highly disciplined sport of Dressage, and the caliber of both the riders and the horses continues to grow each year.