The Lady Joseph Charitable Trust

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On Saturday 19th May LJT Silhouetter ridden by Theresa Smyth has won both the Hickstead Young Horse Championship qualifiers. The 5 year old National Qualifier with 9.42 and the 5 year old International Qualifier with 9.0. The mare received a 10 for her walk.

The mare was bought for Lee Pearson to produce but sadly was too small for Lee. Silhouette is now at LJT Trustee Henrietta Cheetham’s LJT  yard for training and is being produced by Theresa for the trust.

September 2011

Deb Criddle Para European Championships 2011

At the Para European Dressage Championships Deb Criddle and LJT Akilles were part of the gold medal winning GB team. They went on to exceed expectations and win an individual silver medal in the grade 111 individual championship and a gold medal in the grade 111 freestyle championships.

The Europeans were the culmination of a whirlwind 6 months training and competing. It is a fairytale ending with 2 gold and 1 silver medals. Akilles has excelled himself and puts us in a strong position for team selection looking forward to 2012. We are still learning about each other and I believe there is so much more power and expression to come, all very exciting.

September 2011

Duchess of Cornwall meets para riders

The Lady Joseph Trust is delighted to announce that Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cornwall has accepted the invitation to become President of the charity.

Trustee Henrietta Cheetham said:

The Trust is delighted that HRH The Duchess of Cornwall has accepted our invitation to become the charity’s president. The Duchess receives many requests from organisations and charities requiring her time and commitment and we are honoured that we have been accepted.

The invitation was issued following a visit by The Duchess to a para world class team training session. Our riders were thrilled by the interest and enthusiasm shown by The Duchess.

August 2011

LJT Normak Lucas

The Lady Joseph Trust has bought another horse for Lee Pearson. The 10 year old Knabstrpper stallion LJT Normak Lucas was sourced by Metter Assouline in Denmark. A delighted Lee said;

My reaction when told about Lucas was yes yes yes, or at least lets try! Just at the same time I had my accident and broke my back, so its been a very long wait to try him and bring him to my stables.

He has the best of temperaments so far, in-fact I have geldings that act up more! The walk is very good, correct with a great over track, the trot is good and a pace I can hopefully easily improve over the next year, the canter is a little weak but this is not a pace I need for Paralympic tests. The aim will be to get him a little more responsive of my light limited legs aids, accept the contact correctly and behave in all environments!

I really didn’t want a stallion but to follow in Blue Circle Boy and Gentleman’s shoes I think I need to be riding something both correct and flashy, he certainly fills those shoes!!

July 2011

LJT Silhouette wins Shearwater qualifier

LJT Silhouette qualifies for the Shearwater Potential International Dressage Horse Championships, winning her qualifier at Keyso with a score of 40.7 ridden by Artur Nicpon who works and rides for Lee Pearson. Lee stated;

I am delighted with LJT Silhouette; one of the first horses I’ve been bought to produce and what an amazing horse she is. Calm and very sweet in the stable and field but once mounted she has more horsepower than most sports cars I’ve driven! and an outstanding walk, trot and canter.

Since my accident I have been training my horses with my staff onboard and Artur did not let me down. The warming up was very busy and ‘Cilla’ was a little nervous at first, she settled quickly and once in the competition arena she shone.

I was very very tempted to enter myself to ride her at the National Championships, but with London 2012 next year I’m forcing myself to stand at the sidelines and not risk any unnecessary incidents, she’s a star and have to remember she is only four years old.