Several top names have been added to the cast for this year’s ‘Best of British’ British Dressage Convention on 21 – 22 November at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.
This year’s event will feature a daily session on para dressage. Britain leads the way where the discipline is concerned, remaining unbeaten in all championships since the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics and top names like Baker, Christiansen, Criddle and Wells will be in action at Hartpury.
On Saturday, Natasha Baker (grade II) and Sophie Christiansen (Grade Ia) will feature under the tuition of Team GBR trainer Michele Assouline. Both will ride their exciting young prospects Sookie St James and Athene Lindebjerg, who made their British team debut in September, with Natasha taking a pair of silver medals while Sophie swept the board with triple gold. Sunday moves to grades III and IV with Deb Criddle and Sophie Wells in the arena with leading para trainers Angela Weiss and Nina Venables. Through the sessions on both days, delegates will learn just what makes our para riders so special, why Team GBR has over 130 championship medals and what differences there are between para and able-bodied dressage.
The riders selected on their 2015 British Dressage Championship performances who will ride for our guest trainers. On Saturday, international trainer, rider and judge Judy Harvey will put Stephanie Sweet on Dolle Jung and Laura Woollen on Woodlander Buddy Holly through their paces. Sunday, Olympian Laura Tomlinson takes over the teaching duties with Jayne Turney on Cruz III and Sadie Smith on Keystone Dynamite as guinea pigs.
Charlotte Dujardin will be presenting a session on young horses with help from the Mount St John Stud, Laura Tomlinson riding at small tour level and Carl Hester focusing on Grand Prix with help from Judy Harvey, plus our para quartet, their trainers and our demonstration riders. It will be an insightful two days under the direction of BBC presenter Lee McKenzie and Paul Hayler, British Dressage’s Training Director.
Related Links
Tomlinson and Kyrklund Masterclass at 2015 CDI-W London
Dujardin and Hester, Keynote Speakers at 2015 British Dressage National Convention
Mount St. John: a Foals' Paradise Aiming for High Performance Sport