Anne Marie Dunphy

Anne Marie and Urbanus rounded off a very successful UK tour when they scored 68.50% to place 4th in Inter 1 Freestyle to Music  in the Hickstead Dressage Masters Championships held at the Royal International Horse Show at the famous All England Showgrounds in West Sussex. They also scored 64.82% in PSG, finishing 5th overall in the Masters Championship.

In the Hickstead CDI***PSG at the end of the week they scored 65.89%. Having also won two Prix St Georges classes the previous week, Anne Marie commented "I'm very happy with the progress Urbanus has made on this trip which was his first time representing Ireland abroad. Although he is still inexperienced at this level, to be placed in the Masters at Hickstead  was very exciting and in the 3*** International  4 of the 5 judges placed him over 65% with one judge awarding  him 68%. This is  extremely encouraging for the future.

Anne Marie and Urbanus will next contest the National Dressage Championships to be held at Caven E.C. 24-26 September.

Anne Marie and Urbanus are on top form on the British Dressage circuit winning two Prix St Georges competitions this week.

The first win came at Kings Equestrian in Herts on tuesday where they won the PSG convincingly on an impressive score of 70.82%. The second win came on thursday at Solihull, Birmingham with a score of 66.82%.

Anne Marie's pupils Monica Dunne and Rachel Dowley were also in the ribbons at these shows. Monica and her mare Villeberie notched up two wins at medium level, while Rachel and Egano placed 2nd and 4th at advanced medium level.

All three riders will compete next week at the Hickstead Dressage Masters Championships.

The Senior Dressage High Performance Committee of Horse Sport Ireland has announced the selection of Anne Marie and Urbanus to the HP Development squad. The aim of the program is to identify talented horse rider combinations who have shown the potential to be of International standard and assist them with their training towards major International competitions. Only three riders have been selected, Anne Marie is joined on the squad by Heike Holstein and Carolyn Mellor.

Anne Marie and Urbanus are currently starting a competition tour in the UK, including Hartpury CDI and Hickstead Dressage Masters Championships and CDI.