Olympics take note, Umdloti’s Belinda Weyer is a dressage champion in waiting!

Belinda and her horse, Zonjati Saint Fagan, recently claimed first in the championship category and second in freestyle while competing in the elementary grade at the recent KwaZulu-Natal Dressage Championships at Maxwell’s Equestrian Centre in Mooi River.

The event drew the best riders from across the province and even some who snuck in from other parts of the country.

“We had to ride two classes of a pre-chosen dressage test, as well as choreographing our own dressage to music,” said Belinda.

“Zonjati is fairly young so he was a little tense during the first test. But he was brilliant in the championship and freestyle classes where we medalled together.”

Dressage is a sport where the level of training in the horse and relationship between animal and rider are judged.

“Dressage, for me, is a bit like dancing with a partner. It should look effortless with subtle cues from each other that spectators don’t even see,” she said.

“The judges look at relaxation and harmony of horse and rider, so you will get marked down if your horse is visibly anxious. I don’t train with force, avoiding spurs and whip aids, and try use positive reinforcement.”

Belinda sourced Zonjati from a stud farm in Namibia, buying him when he was a few months old from video footage alone.

Zonjati has been spirited since arriving to be broken in by Belinda herself, so much so that she added the ‘Saint’ to his name in hopes that saintly traits would rub off on him.

“Needless to say that didn’t work! He is super intelligent and knows more word commands than my dogs. I need to entertain him with work other than dressage and I plan on starting jumping again so he doesn’t entertain himself by playing ‘Toss the Human’!”

Belinda has been riding since she was eight and has represented KZN in showing and dressage many times, earning colours in showing. She hopes to add provincial colours in dressage too – maybe if Zonjati’s saintly personality comes out at the right time.

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