BECKY Moody returned from a medal-winning trip to the European Dressage Championships in France in the early hours of Monday then was mucking out the stables at her equestrian centre on the outskirts of Barnsley at 7.30am the same day.
The 45-year-old and her horse Jagerbomb were part of the Great Britain team which took silver in the team event at the championships in Crozet, while she also finished fourth and fifth in her two individual events.
“I competed on Sunday then got back at about half past midnight and I was mucking out the stables at 7.30 because we were short-staffed,” said Becky who runs Moody Dressage in Gunthwaite where she trains horses and coaches riders.
“It’s been a busy and tiring couple of weeks but I’m happy overall.”
Becky, along with Carl Hester and Lottie Fry, won team silver after taking bronze in the Paris Olympics last summer. She said: “Silver is really good. But obviously we would have liked gold. Both Lottie and I didn’t do our best tests.
“We know we could have got gold.
“We’ve had bronze, silver and now it would be nice to complete the set with gold. I will be hoping to do that at the World Equestrian Games in Germany next year.
“I was really pleased my performance in the two individuals.
“Fourth is a little bit tough to take because you are so close to a medal.
“But I am super-pleased with Bomb. The best part is we can perform even better than that so there is so much more to come. There is loads of motivation for next time.”
Jagerbomb will have a break for the next month before potentially competing in the World Cup series over the winter while Becky is preparing to take nine horses to the National Dressage Championships next week. She admits it has been a great experience to represent her country at the top level for the first time over the last two years.
She said: “It’s amazing and it’s certainly what I dreamed of when I was younger. I had almost let it go and was just enjoying coaching and competing at the level I was at. It goes to show what an amazing horse can help you achieve. The experience with him will help me develop other horses and he might not be the only one I get to that level with.”
Jagerbomb is named after Becky’s grandfather Norman Moody who was nicknamed ‘Bomb’ and was a former director of Barnsley FC.
