CIRENCESTER dressage rider Olivia Oakeley has returned triumphant with three great results from the Nations Cup Dressage Championships in Moorsele, Belgium.

Olivia took her top horse, Donna Summer (Rio) to the Junior FEI event for Junior, Pony and Young Rider teams. The combination performed three advanced medium tests against top-class international competition.

Olivia and Rio achieved 66.096% in the individual, 69.208% in the freestyle and 67.027% in the Junior team test, coming eighth, fifth and eighth respectively – no mean feat against the top Dutch and Belgian riders.

Their hopes of competing were almost dashed a few months ago when a broken tooth upset Rio’s training schedule: “Back at the end of March we had the dentist out after he became difficult in the contact,” said Olivia. “He discovered there was a shattered tooth which needed to be removed.”

This meant that Rio had to be ridden in a Hackamore (bitless) bridle for three weeks.

“I had only been back in the double bridle for a week before leaving for Moorsele, so it wasn’t ideal,” said Olivia.

She was ecstatic with her results, and with Donna Summer’s performance.

“He was a complete star,” she said. “He is brilliant in bigger atmospheres. He’s such a show off, he loves it, but so do I”

Olivia has recently relocated to a new dressage yard in Ashton Keynes, run by Gemma Green. Last year she worked for dressage superstar Carl Hester at his yard in Newent.

The pair’s solid performance means she has gained the qualifying percentages for July’s European Championships in Denmark.

The pair will next compete at the Hickstead Premier League in June, which is the final chance for selection on to the Junior European team.