Summer Area Festivals 25: Opening weekend of action

With championship season in full swing, two Petplan Summer Area Festivals opened a busy spell of 17 fixtures, with standard and freestyle qualification action deciding the line-up for the Petplan Summer Area Festival Championships in October.  

Chantelle Oliver-Symonds and Standmoreslow Coffee & Cream © Kevin Sparrow Photography

Burrows Court Farm 

The first Summer Area Festival of 2025 took place at Burrows Court Farm, showcasing well ridden tests from Prelim to Intermediate I. The event saw new memories made for first time Area Festival combinations, as well as celebrating outstanding achievements from riders such as Chantelle Oliver-Symonds, who has an incredible story with her own Standmoreslow Coffee & Cream.  

This fantastic duo have competed in the Area Festival series for many years now and have worked through the levels from Prelim to Intermediate I; not only is this a great example of an amazing member journey, but they have also qualified for an Area Festival Championship at every level too!  

Chantelle has owned ‘Harvey’ for 17 years: “He’s a 15hh Appaloosa x Welsh D gelding who is just approaching 20 years old. I’ve owned him since he was three, so our journey together has been really special and he is without doubt not just my horse of a lifetime but my best friend.” 

The pair originally enjoyed a life of hacking and low-level eventing, but after a nasty fall decided to dip a hoof into the dressage arena Chantelle revealed, “we began our Area Festival journey back in 2013 at Prelim level. We didn’t really know what it all meant and just turned up for a bit of fun, where we came second and qualified for the Championships at Hartpury.” Year upon year the duo has stepped up the levels.  

In 2017 Harvey went out on loan to an ‘amazing family’ C, he took his new rider to another championships at Prelim U21 and when he returned Chantelle finally got to win a sash with him herself. “Since then, he’s topped the class several times and his sash count is now quite impressive! He's gone on to qualify for the championships from Prelim through to Inter I at both the Winter and Summer Area Festivals and has had lots of top ten placings along the way” Chantelle explained.  

Describing the spotted gelding's personality at home Chantelle said, “he’s an absolute dream to own and handle, I call him an oversized labrador because he’s so lovely and will do anything to please you!” Although he can be cheeky she explained, “he sometimes thinks being caught is a fun game to play, normally when it is raining! To train he can be really sensitive, so every day is taken individually. His changes have been our biggest struggle as he gets tense and tight which means they come late or short, so we spend a lot of time moving him around off the leg to get him relaxed.” 

The Area Festival series has been able to support their journey together, Chantelle told us, “I’ve been a huge fan of the series as they are aimed at combinations like us, true amateurs, most of whom are juggling home life, work and horses!” The shows and venues themselves create an unforgettable atmosphere, “it’s something I’ve not experienced elsewhere; everyone is so welcoming and friendly, it makes the whole experience truly amazing.”  

Chantelle and Harvey should be an inspiration to other competitors out there: “Being able to work my way up through the levels of the series has given me the space to develop alongside Harvey in an environment that is designed for likeminded riders. I've made so many friends over the years and Harvey has built up a massive fan club throughout them as it just shows that any type of horse can compete in this series whether it's at Prelim or Inter 1.”  

When asked what she would say to those who are hoping for a similar journey with their own horse or pony, Chantelle’s advice would be, “I think we can all get concerned if we're good enough and that voice in our head kicks in, but life is so short and if you have a horse or pony that has the movements, even if they're not perfect, just give it a go! Don't ever have the fear that because your horse or pony isn't a certain type it means that they can't reach your goals, it's all possible. Just go for it!” 

Sarah Gemmell and Strathleven Achiltibuie © Lottie Christian Photography

Myerscough College 

Mysercough College hosted the second Summer Area Festival of the year, where we saw an incredible range of horses and ponies, of all different shapes, sizes and experience. One of the standout performances was 14hh Highland Pony, Strathleven Achiltibuie ridden wonderfully by owner Sarah Gemmell.  

The fantastic duo won the Prelim Silver with a great score of 70.00%, Sarah shared, “that all the late nights, dark mornings, and all the effort in-between felt worth it” following this achievement. It was a sunny day at Myserscough and Sarah felt good during their test despite the heat, “we were warm! It was a hot weekend at Myerscough but Buie gave me his all and danced through a lovely test - I thought we did our best and he was happy and forward so that was enough of a result at that point!”  

Having only become a BD member in October 2024, Sarah and ‘Buie’ are new to the dressage scene. Having worked hard to get the scores they needed to compete at the Winter Area Festivals, Sarah said,  “we went to Alnwick Ford in February and we qualified for the Winter Championships with a 2nd place at 68.57%. We had such a super time at the Championships, and I am committed to working up the levels. Over the last 6 months I got together enough test results to qualify for the Summer Area Festivals at both Prelim and Novice.” 

The Area Festival series has given the combination something to work towards Sarah explained, “my only aim when I go into the arena is to try and improve upon a previous score, and this weekend we came out with a 70% - this was enough of a result for me. So, to take the top spot and hold onto it for the duration of the class was just fantastic!” 

 Their six-year partnership has taken the two of them on an incredible journey, Sarah shared,  
“I’ve had Buie since September 2019, from the Trailtrow Stud near Kirkpatrick Flemming.” Only three-years-old at the time, the now nine-year-old has now got a luxurious string of results on his record, “before we took to competing between the white boards, we worked our way up the ranks in the working hunter pony world. Buie was the Novice Working Hunter Pony champion at the BSPS Heritage champs in 2022, and then he moved into the open classes, qualifying for the Royal International Horse Show in the 143cm M&M WHP class in 2024. We also compete under British Eventing and have previously qualified for the BE80 Grassroots Final earlier this year.”  

When preparing for the championships Sarah explains how it is more difficult to do training at home: “Buie is a working stallion and his stallion duties this season have been more than I first anticipated so he has been away serving via AI for the best part of May and June! I don’t have anything more than a marshy field to work in at home, so any work at home has been weather dependant and when there was a fortnight to go to the final and I realised I’d ridden him once in the recent weeks, I made a conscious plan to work with my coach on the occasions when I could ride to maximise that limited time and ensure it was productive!”  

The mouse dun stallion is described by Sarah as “super easy going” and they clearly have a special bond, “he lives with me and he’s my only pony, so we have a lovely 1-2-1 relationship, and we know each other inside out. He always tries his best to please me, and he loves his work.” 

Sarah has enjoyed the atmosphere at the Area Festivals so far, saying, “the Area Festivals have a championship feel to them and are the result of a seasons work. The arenas are beautifully presented, the stewards and the staff are always encouraging and helpful (especially when I land with 101 questions), and to come away with three test sheets with elements to focus on is really worthwhile.”  

Looking to the future, Sarah spoke about what’s on the horizon: “We’re going to get jumping again and look to go to some low-level competitions this autumn and it would be super to run at a couple of BE outings towards the end of the season. We’ll be looking to get some more lessons booked in ahead of the Summer Area Championship, and then I’ll be keen to start boxing off our tests with the winter qualifiers commencing.”