Orana Equestrian Club hosts Competitive and Closed Unrestricted Dressage Competition

The competition was held over two days on Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2 and saw entrants travel from as far as Narrabri and Tamworth to participate.

The club was praised for their hospitality and running of the event, Orana Equestrian Club secretary Rachael Carlton said.

"We had quite a few people come this time that haven't been to Dubbo for a competition before so that's encouraging," she said.

"It was a very successful day, we had lots of compliments on the grounds and how the event was run."

It was the first time the club held the event over two days, choosing to start late on Saturday and finish early on Sunday to allow for the competitors who travelled to get home at a reasonable time.

"It was a good thing to do so we will do that in the future as well, it was very successful," she said.

It wasn't just how the competition was run that received compliments but also the "amazing" accommodation around the region that people stayed in.

"We got compliments on the hotels, some stayed and camped out at the grounds and others went to nearby hotels and we got nothing but positive feedback from them," she said.

"It's nice to know that other businesses benefited from our event, even though it's not a huge event it's still money coming into town."

With multiple competitions being held every month, Ms Carlton said it's sometimes hard to choose which event to attend.

READ MORE:

"We had a lot of people say we will be telling our friends about Dubbo, because there are only so many weekends in a month so it's hard for people to choose which event they want to go to, so when somebody goes away with a positive experience they then tell their friends which is great for us," she said.

"It is a community here, the dressage community are all running in the same circles so any positive feedback is always good because it then encourages new people to come to Dubbo and our event can get bigger."

During COVID there was a year when the equestrian club was unable to hold the dressage event.

"We've seen the deterioration even for club days and things but it's all starting to come back now so that's good," she said.

"I'm very impressed with Dubbo Showground and all the improvements they've made, so I'm nothing but positive."

Ms Carlton said on behalf of the Orana Equestrian Club she wanted to thank everyone that attended and supported the event.

"We had many people see something was happening at the showground and came over and then stuck around to see a bit of action," she said.

"Thank you to all the supporters and spectators that supported our club, we really appreciate it."

Orana Equestrian Club will host the Offical Championship Competition on October 1 and 2.