Two special guests at the 2017 Australian Dressage Championships

Boneo Park welcomed two guests stars at the 2017 Martin Collins Australian Dressage Championships this year for two very special masterclasses organised by Melissa Cannon and her team at Dressage Masterclass. What a thrill to have Olympic silver medalist Spencer Wilton, currently ranked ninth in the world at Boneo Park as well as upcoming Australian star Simone Pearce who travelled all the way from Europe.

Simone, the Young Horse specialist

On Friday it was Simone who kicked off with the first Masterclass, themed on Young Horses. is an Australian representative rider based at Helgstrand Dressage in Denmark.

For the past 7 years she has been training and competing in Germany, Holland and now Denmark. At the 2017 Longines FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Dressage Championships for Young Horses, at Ermelo in the Netherlands, Simone marked a watershed moment for Australian dressage when she became the first Australian rider to win a qualifying test at the prestigious event with Feodoro in the six-year-old class. The pair later went on to finish 7th in the final, with Simone also finished 4th in the five-year-old final.

Simone has also achieved five times a score of 10 for walk, trot, canter and rideability on four different horses over the course of the season. Last weekend, was another big achievement on European soil for our talented Aussie, placing vice-champion of Denmark at the young horse championship for her mount Emotion.

Having achieved over 70% in Grand Prix, Simone already has a pre-qualification score required for WEG 2018. 

Spencer Wilton, Olympic Silver Medallist & FEI Ranked ninth

Born in 1973 and raised in Suffolk, Spencer was a keen member of the Essex and Suffolk Pony Club and represented GB as an individual at the Pony European Eventing Championships. He later switched to Dressage, winning his first National title in 1999.

In 2006 he made his first international debut and to date, Spencer has now won thirteen National titles.

Spencer and Jen Goodman’s Super Nova II were selected to represent Great Britain at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and alongside team mates, Carl Hester, Fiona Bigwood and Charlotte Dujardin, they made the nation proud as they brought home the Team Silver Medal; an astonishing achievement and a dream realised for Spencer and the talented Super Nova.

In August 2017 Spencer and Super Nova II placed 6th in the Grand Prix Special at the European Dressage Championships with a fantastic score of 76.078%.

On Saturday, 5 Australian riders took part in his Masterclass "From Young Horse to Podium". We also got the chance to watch Spencer compete in the Grand Prix CDI-W on the magnificent 16yo gelding 'Umbro' owned by Carol Haynes and Mary Hanna over the weekend.

Dressage Masterclass is dedicated to improving the promotion of equestrian sport in Australia by presenting innovative events that increase training knowledge and showcase the sport to a wider audience. Listen to Melissa Cannon, founder of Dressage Masterclass.