Seventeen-year-old Tabitha Kyle from Great Britain claimed victory last week in the Six Bars event in Vejer De La Frontera. "I didn't train for it at home. In fact, I didn't even know there was a Six Bars event!", she laughs. "When I saw it in the program, I thought, 'this looks like fun'." She decided to enter with Desterly, a sixteen-year-old KWPN mare by Tolan R. In the fourth round, she surpassed the Irish rider Alexander Butler at a height of 1.85m. "It's amazing! I didn't think that I could win."
Until last year, Tabitha achieved remarkable results in pony competitions. In 2022, she was part of the Gold Medal-winning team for Great Britain at the Youth Nations Cup final. In 2023, she won the 148cm national title on Atomic and secured gold at the Nations Cup in Zuidwolde (NL) as well as bronze at the Nations Cup in Gorla Minore (ITA).
Her pony career came to an end in late 2023. Unfortunately, it didn't conclude as planned due to a car accident. "I was a passenger in a hit-and-run car accident while competing in the Netherlands. I sustained a neck fracture and, therefore, was unable to complete my year as I had hoped for", she explains. "I had set high goals to finish my pony career successfully at both the Horse of the Year Show and The London International Horse Show, but that didn't happen."
Luckily, she is now back in the ring at her first international event of the year at the Sunshine Tour! With Desterly and Jumanji, she has already achieved impressive results over the last few weeks. Last Thursday, she successfully started her first 4* Ranking with Desterly. "It went really well! We managed to ride a clear round and even finished in second place in the CSI4* Medium Tour 1.40". With Jumanji, she also finished in second place in the CSI4* Big Tour 1.35.
Looking towards the future, she aims to compete with both horses at a higher level. "I've graduated now and am doing an internship with the horses. With Jumanji, I would like to compete in the Rankings, and with Desterly, I want to participate in the Europeans again and step up in height."
Source: Equnews