Georgie Nicholls won her an eighth LeMieux National Dressage Championships title of her career as she led the pack in the TopSpec National Dressage Championships medium silver final, taking first and second place with her own Briarwood Notorious (Silas) and Katie Haigh’s Woodcroft Kika Quina (Luna), respectively.
Georgie, who is based with the Oppenheimers at the Headmore Stud, scored 70.87% and 70.76% in the National Dressage Championships medium silver championship with the two horses.
“It’s the most incredible feeling and winning here never gets old,” said 20-year-old Georgie, who also did a one-two in last year’s elementary silver championship here at Somerford Park. “I was slightly apprehensive [after last year] as I thought there might be a bit of an expectation, but both horses gave me the best feeling.”
While both horses stood next to each other on the leaderboard, Georgie said they couldn’t be more different:
“I was pleased with Silas today, as on Friday his test didn’t quite go according to plan,” she said. “We weren’t sure how he would go, but he came out so much better as he’s settled after being here all week.”
“Luna is known as Miss Perfect at home,” she added.
Silas has been with Georgie for three years.
“He’s a big character and it’s taken a lot of work behind the scenes to get him to this stage; he gets quite hot and buzzy in the arena,” she said. “We’ve got a routine where we ride him before the test, put him away and bring him back out again. It seems to be really working for him.”
Alice Oppenheimer was ringside to watch Georgie’s triumph:
“Georgie didn’t want to do the medium — she didn’t think Silas was ready — but I bullied her into doing it,” she laughed.
Georgie was making a triumphant return to the nationals after missing this year’s winter championships as she was involved in a major car accident. She broke her neck and her back in four places.
Alice added: “I hope I never get a phone call like that again; it was horrific. It’s been a turbulent year for Georgie, so it’s amazing she’s come back with two horses and achieved this result.”
“I traumatised the whole of Headmore,” said Georgie. “But from my point of view I got unlimited chocolate and had my horses ridden by Alice!”
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