An 83-year-old rider who won the elementary gold section at his first ever dressage show said there was “room for improvement” and that his aim is to compete at prix st georges. Otto van der Wyck and his 11-year-old Ries’ Castore (Casper) scored 62.76% at Crofton Manor last Saturday (20 May), their first time coming down the centre line together. Mr van der Wyck told H&H he started riding as a teenager but gave up when he went to university, and did not start again until he was in his 50s. “When I started again, I went hunting,” he said. “My nephew used to go out with the Cotswold and alw ..read more

Charlotte Dujardin (GBR) riding Gio during the Grand Prix Freestyle - Individual Competition of the Dressage European Championship held at Hagen A.T.W near Osnabrück in Germany between the 7-12th September 2021 Charlotte Dujardin is back to her winning ways following the birth of her daughter Isabella in March, and she has revealed how training 18-year-old grand prix rider Annabella Pidgley while pregnant has helped with her return to competition. “My last show was the National Dressage Championships in September 2022, but since then I’ve been blessed that I’ve been going to shows with Annabel ..read more

A dressage rider who suffered a heart attack last year and lives with “excruciating” nerve pain as a result of diabetes has vowed to “never give up riding”, as she returns to competition. In 2013 Emma Richardson, 52, “smashed her leg badly” in an eventing accident, and within three months developed type one diabetes. When Emma returned to the saddle that year, she bought 17hh thoroughbred gelding Toska and took up dressage. Emma told H&H that as a consequence of the diabetes, she developed neuropathy (a type of nerve damage) in her feet, and in 2015 she underwent a pancreas transplant. Al ..read more

Lottie Fry celebrates individual gold at the 2022 World Championships. Lottie Fry has shared an insight into one of her schooling sessions with her up-and-coming grand prix horse Lars Van De Hoenderheide, and it’s fair to say it wasn’t quite what we were expecting. The 12-year-old Belgian warmblood gelding is one of Lottie’s seriously exciting grand prix horses, who is already making an impact on the international circuit, but reigning world champion Lottie showed off a bit of fun in their training from earlier this week. In the video, Lottie and Lars perform a line of nine bouncy and expressi ..read more

British international grand prix dressage rider and trainer Anna Ross on the importance of listening to and engaging with those who criticise our sport Maria Caetano ( POR) riding Fenix De Tineo the Grand Prix - Team and Individual Qualifier for the Olympic Dressage Competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held at Equestrian Park in Setagaya-ku in Tokyo in Japan between the 23rd July and 8th August 2021 I don’t believe that animal lovers concerned about our sport should or will just leave us alone. So when I was fortunate enough to compete Habouche at the Compiègne CDI in France and learnt ..read more

A rider achieved a personal best dressage score in the middle of a “biblical storm” to claim victory five months after finding out she is in remission from cancer. Debbie Cole, 63, and her 15-year-old Dutch warmblood Dancer III won the prix st georges (PSG) silver section at Kings Sedgemoor Equestrian Centre on 9 May, on 72.35%. Debbie told H&H she was “delighted” with her test – despite the “biblical storm” that was raging as she rode. “It was a horrendous day and flooding in Somerset. The whole of the horizon was black all around us, there was thunder and it was absolutely chucking it ..read more

We are more aware than ever of the impact of riders’ mental health in dressage and other equestrian sports. Increased awareness and openness around mental health in the horse world is a sign of great progress, but the reality is that many riders are still negatively affected, sometimes without even realising. No equestrian discipline is immune, but dressage in particular seems to elicit certain mental health struggles among riders, in part due to its nature as a subjective, “judged” sport. Then there is the fact that dressage naturally attracts many people with perfectionist tendencies, all s ..read more

ALEXANDER HARRISON - KICKBACK When Kickback arrived at Alex Harrison’s, Alex was not sure he had made the best buy. The grand prix rider had bought the three-year-old from a video, and had expected him to be rather taller than he was. “He turned up and I thought, ‘S**t, he’s really small!” he told H&H. “I kept trying to sell him, but no one wanted to buy him, I think they thought he was too small. But he’s super now.” Alex and the eight-year-old, who is still only 15.3hh, won Friday’s (12 May) Premier League prix st georges, at the ICE Horseboxes All England Dressage Festival at Hickstead ..read more

Rubin Royal OLD with his breeder Harli Seifert (left) and DLZ operations manager Wolfgang Stagge (right). Leading dressage stallion Rubin Royal OLD has died at the age of 27. His death marks the end of an era for Germany’s Dressage Horse Performance Center Lodbergen, for which he was a founding stallion. The son of Rohdiamant, out of the Grundstein II mare Rumirell, was an international grand prix competitor himself, as well as a prolific producer of top grand prix horses, including those ridden by Laura Tomlinson, Lara Butler and Hayley Watson-Greaves. Operations manager at Lodbergen, Wolfga ..read more

Charlotte Dujardin, aboard Imhotep, greeting her daughter Isabella, after winning the Defender CDI4* grand prix at Royal Windsor Horse Show. Charlotte Dujardin has made a triumphant return to competition just nine weeks after giving birth to her first baby, a daughter named Isabella. Riding her 2022 world silver medallist Imhotep, Charlotte won both the grand prix and freestyle at Royal Windsor Horse Show CDI4*. Charlotte says she owes her speedy and stunning return to the fact that she “tried to stay as fit as possible throughout pregnancy”. “I still rode a bit, and I was on my spin bike pre ..read more