ONLY 6 points separated the top 3 teams in the BRC/SEIB Quadrille of the Year at Olympia, but the Battle Axes of Moat View Riding Club claimed victory for the second consecutive year.
Three of last year’s team returned to defend their title, while the fourth member, Nicky Murrell, was a member of the winning Faversham team in 2006.
The quartet performed a lively tribal dance to music ranging from Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Two Tribes to the Gladiator theme tune. They even used food colouring to dye their tongues blue for effect when they poked their tongues out at the judges.
“There is a limit to what you can do with horses in an arena, but we incorporated lots of spear movements including leg yielding from all four corners of the arena to form a 5m circle over X with our spears forming a point in the centre,” said Nicky.
Just two marks in arrears were The Mystic Krewe from Suffolk-based St Edmunds Riding Club, who were having their first attempt at quadrille.
Third-placed Wey Valley were dressed as fairground attendants and performed a wonderfully original performance with Fairground Frolics.
Filling fourth spot was Double Trouble by Essex’s Saffron Walden who fielded a team of non dressage-orientated horses aged from eight- to 24-year-olds and had handsewn 10,000 sequins to give their outfits more colour.
Results
1. MOAT VIEW RIDING CLUB (325 points) Battle Axes — A Call to Arms!
Nicky Murrell on Limerick
Amy Williams on Hortons Pink Panther
Rosemary Williams on Old Park Rose
Frances Wilson on The Marked Man
2. ST EDMUNDS RIDING CLUB (323) The Mystic Krewe
Gail Wynne-Rogerson on Miss Moneypenny
Rachel Clay on Curolea Western Robbie
Julia Woods on Elaphine Murphy
Kay Barter on Scooby Doo
3. WEY VALLEY (319) Fairground Frolics
Jane Davies on Tirmelyn Pedr
Clare May on The Mariner
Storme Whittaker on Demelza V
Phyl Young on Gazetteer
4. SAFFRON WALDEN AND DISTRICT RIDING CLUB (301) Double Trouble
Claire Engelmann on Daniel
Suzannah Engelmann on Blu-Tack
Becky Markillie on Celtic Silver Shadow
Sally-Ann Yates on My Smiley Miley
Stay in touch with all the action from Olympia on Horseandhound.co.uk throughout the show and don’t miss H&H’s full report on the quadrille in 1 January issue (on sale 2 January).
