Liz Halliday Back in Action at Aston Le Walls
Equestrian News Release

ASTON LE WALLS, NORTHANTS, UK-Sportscar driver and equestrian Liz Halliday was back in action on Wednesday 9th of August, with both her regular horses Oscar and Harry, as she competed at Aston Le Walls. It was a successful day for Halliday and her two steeds, on an event intended to build confidence, particularly with Harry, following a disappointing event just over a week previously, at the Wilton Horse Trials.

Halliday and Harry were originally entered for the Gatcombe Horse Trials, where they would have moved up a level to Advanced, but following an uncharacteristic performance by Harry at Wilton, she withdrew from the event. He had seemed reluctant to jump and gallop at Wilton, and was found to be very sore in his muscles, which a lot of physio work and stretching seemed to help. Halliday then decided to enter him into the Aston-Le-Walls event at Intermediate level again to get his confidence back and rebuild the relationship.

She began with Oscar and was pleased to find that although she had felt the dressage test was perhaps not to their best standard, she and Oscar were leading the class after this first phase. The two were meant to have Show Jumping soon after Dressage, but then a lengthy delay followed as two unfortunate competitors were air-lifted to hospital. The long wait and sitting around at the show jumping arena seemed to unsettle Oscar and he became a bit inattentive, and the result was three rails down during the subsequent show jumping. “I think he got a bit frustrated and lazy with all of the waiting.” explained Halliday. “Show jumping is his hardest phase and sometimes, these things happen. One of the rails down was definitely my fault, but I felt the rest of it should have been better. He is a talented horse though, and I think we just need to keep working on that phase a bit harder and it will come to him eventually.”

The cross country phase was much more successful, though, and Liz felt that they were really beginning to build a partnership. “The cross country was awesome,” said Halliday. “The best round I’ve had with him. The ground was hard and I didn’t want to run him too quickly, as I’m looking at the bigger picture. All in all, I’m pleased with his performance today and I feel we are definitely beginning to work well together.”

Halliday then switched to Harry, and started with a decent dressage which put them within the top ten in the Open Intermediate category after this first phase. Show jumping was next and the pair enjoyed a clear round around the same technical course that had claimed three rails for her previously; “Harry gave probably his best performance today,” said Halliday afterwards. “He jumped a clear round and really gave each fence an extra bit of air just to be sure he cleared it! I’m very pleased, and it’s great to have him back in the groove in the show jumping.”

Cross country followed and again, the pair enjoyed an encouraging round, despite some coaxing from Halliday; “It took some extra effort from me in places,” she said, “I think he was still a bit hesitant from the last event, and I was giving him a strong ride anyway to make sure we came away with a clear round! But for the most part, it was a big improvement on Wilton.” Despite some time penalties, the pair finished in a strong 6th place in the Open Intermediate, which is a good result considering the class is open to horses with Advanced and even Olympic experience, so the competition is always tough. “I think we’re heading back to the level of performance that we should be at,” said Liz, “and sixth in the Open Intermediate class is good. We could perhaps have been higher up if I’d pushed to go fast but it didn’t seem worth it. Hopefully he’ll be back to his old self by the time we next compete.”

The next event for Halliday is the Highclere Castle Horse Trials in Wiltshire, on the 28 of August, where she will run both Harry and Oscar, as well as her advanced horse, Fox - who will be doing his first run of the year after some time off for minor injury. “It’s a difficult course,” she said. “It’s a big intermediate and I will be running all three; Harry will be doing the Advanced Intermediate [Advanced dressage and show jumping and Intermediate cross country] while Oscar and Fox will do the Intermediate.”

Before then, Liz will be back in action as a racing driver, competing in the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series on 20th August. She will have her sights set on retaining the lead in the LMP2 drivers’ championship, in front of the official Porsche team drivers.