Quest: Susanne and Lois Seymour
Mother and Daughter share, Dylan and how he came back from surgery to get a wild card to the Quest National Championships!
Lois has been riding Diorissimo (Dylan) for five years but after colic surgery in November 2020, her mum, Susanne started riding him for his rehabilitation. Together they are part of the DDRC Divas in Team Quest, "He has been my daughter's competition horse, doing Side Saddle, Veteran Showing and some Dressage. Dylan is one half of the Quest Team with two Riders. I purchased Harley as my hacking horse to keep up with Dylan round the block but whilst Dylan was out of action Lois began to ride Harley on the Quest Team to continue building up our points. Harley took some convincing to become a dressage diva however he is now loving wearing dancing shoes carrying 2 jockeys at the Quest Nationals."
Dylan, who is a 19-year-old British Warmblood, was brought from a livery yard, "It was by Stone Henge which is a long trek from Dartford Kent but after a weekend of nagging, my daughter convinced me to go and look at the horse I deemed too old (then 14) and too big at 16.2!" Susanne has always been a keen on horses since her teenage years however she never got the chance, "When I married I started to compete at local dressage shows on my ex racer however wasn't keen as he didn't like staying between the white boards. Once my daughter arrived and family chaos began it was easier to put Lois in the ring on a lead rein pony than for me to have someone watch her outside whilst I competed my horse."
Taking about her daughter, "Having the opportunities I never did, Lois has competed on Pony/ Riding Club Dressage Regional and National teams eventually finding Quest in 2019. Since then she has been saying one day she will get me to the ring I always wanted to be in. The unfortunate circumstances of Dylans' surgery had a silver lining as it gave me a schoolmaster to have some fun with and him the rehab he needed to slowly recover."
They both train with Clare Ashley, "We love her can do attitude and that she will find many ways to achieve the best result from our horses. She pushes us and supports us throughout the year through the competition ups and down, as not every outing can be a win."
Quest was Susanne's first ever Regional competition where they cam Team 2nd and also got a wild card for the Nationals, "When Nationals came around I was shell shocked although used to the pre-show prep at such competitions I was not used to being the one in the ring. The pressure not to let my team down was overcome by the excitement of riding down the centre line saying "I am not too old to do this!""
"Quest has given me the opportunity I needed, realising I was good enough. Getting a podium finish with my daughter will always be a treasured memory and I can't believe it was really me that did that well!"
They have big plans for the future, "Having gained confidence as part of a team I would love to follow the My Quest pathway next year on my horse and I may ask Lois if I can steal Dylan for some classes too. I hope to try BD Prelim Bronze however the lack of a caller may lead to many a rider error with the Sat Nav!
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