In Memoriam: Trish Gardiner

Thu, 10/02/2025 - 14:55
Great Britain
Trish Gardiner on Throughbred Wily Imp xx at the 1987 European Dressage Championships :: Photo © Elisabeth Weiland

-- Text by Silke Rottermann © Eurodressage.com - No reproduction allowed

The success story of British Dressage is one paved by passionate and determined women who were trailblazers for the sport against the odds. These women had a never ceasing optimism because „there was not only a great leeway to make up, but also a considerable resistance to overcome, for England was still fox-hunting country“, Dorian Williams OBE, a legendary equestrian journalist and former chairman of the BHS, wrote about the beginnings of dressage in the U.K.

One of these pioneering women and probably one of the most remarkable was Patricia „Trish“ Gardiner, who passed away on 20 August 2025, shortly after her 90th birthday. She stamped dressage in Great Britain in multiple ways. 

Valegro's Happy Hacker

To the younger generation she was, thanks to social media, perhaps only known as "Valegro’s happy hacker," but little do many know that Trish Gardiner was so much more than that. She was the equestrian super star avant la lettre and as rider, trainer, judge significantly influcened the "long way before Britain can claim to be of comparable standard to that experienced in so many other countries“ (dixit Williams).

Gardiner was one of British dressage’s most loyal and longest serving members and she remained committed to horses and riders all her life.

A Start in Hunting, Dreaming of Top Eventing

Gardiner and Manifesto in 1978
Born 16 August 1935 in Surbiton south of London, Gardiner grew up in a Great Britain that relished in horse back riding that  was speedy and exciting. Trish’s early equestrian years were spent with activities like hunting and eventing. 

In 1956 she got the Welsh cob cross Whimbrel as a birthday present and it was no surprise that she bred the beloved mare to the accomplished thoroughbred stallion Kadir Cup xx in the hope to get a future hunter. Whimbrel’s son Manifesto was born in 1964, a strong boned horse with characteristic spots on his body, and a huge engine. Little did anybody know at that time he would later tempt the Germans to offer a blank cheque for him…

Like so many Trish dreamt of competing at the hallowed grounds of eventing, Badminton. When she competed Welton Gameful xx, she came close to achieving this goal at the beginning 1970s.  The horse later became an extremely influential foundation stallion owned by the late Sam Barr, a pioneer in eventing horse breeding,

At Wylye, home of the late Lord and Lady Russell, however, her dreams were shattered, breaking both her legs in a nasty fall cross-country. Trish briefly returned to eventing when she defied the doctors' prognosis and was in the saddle again after her serious accident, but she soon turned her eyes on the discipline as the winds of change in her country slowly hit its stride: Dressage. 

Turn to Dressage

British dressage at the beginning of the 1970s was still a far cry from the importance and influence the other two Olympic disciplines had in the country at that time, but there were some beacons of hope lit by a highly committed group of riders that this was about to make a change, slowly, but surely. Or to say it in the words of the also recebtkt deceased Jane Kidd, "everybody was eager to learn and turn British into a dressage nation.“

Johnston on El Farucco at the 1972 Olympics
A British all-ladies team placed 5th in the team competition at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico and Lorna Johnstone made it to the final ride-off in Munich in 1972. Two years later Goodwood hosted Britain’s first ever CDI and became a much valued mainstay on the international outdoor calendar for about two decades. 

It was around that time that riders interested in dressage would turn more to continental warmbloods, but not so with Trish. When she decided to switch disciplines, her home-bred Manifesto would go down the dressage lane with her and she turned to nobody else than Robert Hall for that.

Finding Training: Robert Hall

While Britain suffered a serious lack of higher level dressage trainers right after the war, the handful of dedicated ladies had to turn to continental trainers for teaching clinics on the island. Brit Robert Hall was practically the first to focus on dressage and establish his famous "Fulmer School(s) of Equitation."

Trained and stamped by the Spanish Riding School, but well aware that British horses were no Lipizzans, the husband of Dutch born British dressage Olympian and O-judge Jook Hall quickly became the man to turn to for the secrets of proper riding and higher level dressage. He was known for condemning training gadgets and had a focus on the horse’s physical and mental relaxation in order to achieve what dressage is all about: flexibility, impulsion and balance.

Although the small elite of British dressage ladies would also rely on trainers from the European mainland for inspiration and help, many of them trained with Hall at some stage in their careers. Trish herself sought help from Hall until the Alternate Olympics in 1980, after which she continued on her own. She did spend some time with German trainers Herbert Rehbein and Georg-Otto Heyser.

Manifesto

Gardiner and Manifesto got thorough introduction to the principles of classical dressage and soon appeared in lower level classes, first at Goodwood, before making their international debut in 1976 at small tour level in Rotterdam.

Trish on the home-bred Manifesto at the
1980 Alternative Olympics in Goodwood
The same year Trish was given the chance to qualifying for the Olympic Games in Montreal on one of Britain’s most prolific horses, Lorna Johnstone’s 17-year-old ex-hurdler and 1972 Olympic horse El Farruco xx. Though they did not make it in the end, it was still a remarkable feat that Trish was short-listed for Montreal on the light-footed little thoroughbred as a "newcomer" to specialized dressage

With her own so different Manifesto she did well at small tour level, even placing highly internationally. They were, for example, 6th in a field of 17 at the CDI Paris in the autumn of 1977. However, the horse was knocking at the door of Grand Prix  and in 1978 both they got selected on the British team as the individual rider for the first ever dressage championships held on British soil — another milestone — the World Championships in Goodwood

Trish’s team debut in front of 14,000 enthusiastic people over the days - a fact which even the German press interpreted as a clear sign that dressage in Great Britain had stepped out of the shadow - was pretty impressive as she was 2nd best of the 4 British ladies in the Grand Prix.

"Manifesto was a big horse and simply magnificent, with no physical limitations to his work“," said Bill Noble. The New Zealand Grand Prix rider began as Trish’s working student and in the 1980s became her business partner. He had the great opportunity to ride Manifesto after his retirement as Trish’s student. 

Trish and Manifesto went on from Goodwood representing Great Britain not only at the biggest shows like legendary CHIO Aachen, in a way the „Badminton“ of dressage, but also at the 1979 European Championships in Denmark and at the 1980 Alternative Olympics. These were held in Goodwood after the most important equestrian nations refused to go to the Moscow Olympics due to the Russian invasion and war in Afghanistan in 1979.

Manifesto’s talent and quality did not go unnoticed and promoted Germans to offer a blank cheque for him, as Carl Hester reminisced to Eurodressage in an interview on 26 August 2025. Trish stuck to her horse of a lifetime. "She was always very loyal to her horses," as Bill Noble confirmed. "The Dutch later tried to buy Wily Imp, with the same result.“

Wily Imp xx

It was Bill who brought home Trish’s next future Grand Prix horse, though it was entirely due to Trish’s sensitivity, patience and extraordinary skills that the high strung thoroughbred Wily Imp xx became an Olympic horse.

On Wily Imp xx at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul
First bought by Bill Noble as a 5-year-old reject from an eventing yard, the bay British bred gelding (by Impersonator) soon became Trish’s project as teaching duties made Noble too busy to continue himself with the horse. Described by Bill as highly sensitive and emotional horse, Wily Imp first made slow progress, but once mentally settled, he sailed through the levels.

In 1987 Trish won the British Dressage Championships with him and was back on her country’s team at the European championships held at Goodwood. A year later she represented Great Britain as one of four ladies at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul where Wily Imp placed 23rd of 53 starters. Whereas this was already no mean feat, very renowned German  equestrian magazine St. Georg even dared to claim that „the British riders seemed to suffer from the prejudice that English cannot ride dressage anyway. Three of their horses had been extremely noble, elegant and light-footed models of which we in particular liked the thoroughbred Wily Imp who was steered with great tact and almost fault free through the program by Tricia Gardiner.“

Wily Imp went on to be selected one last time on the British team at the 1991 European championships in Donaueschingen (GER), after which he became a schoolmaster for a few of Trish's carefully selected working students who could learn a lot from the very fine tuned sensitive gelding, before he ultimately retired to the field.

Trainer and Clinician

Gardiner coaching Newcomb on Soloist
Trish did not only make herself a name as an international rider during this time, but also and in particular as a trainer: At her little training yard in Great Somerford (Wiltshire) she welcomed students from grassroots to Grand Prix, also working students. She would teach clinics across the U.K until the end of her life.

"Trish’s training yard wasn't big, she would usually only have a couple of her own horses, plus occasionally some in for training. She was always more interested in quality, not quantity. That gave her the freedom to travel; she regularly taught not only at her place, but also elsewhere around the country, and occasionally abroad, in Italy and Spain. She would rarely teach on her own horses - she would only do so when she knew and trusted the pupil very well," Noble reminisced. 

One of these lucky ones was Sally Newcomb who started training with Trish as a young instructor after winning a bursary.  "Trish Gardiner gave me the fabulous opportunity to ride Wily Imp as a schoolmaster and the incredible opportunity to compete Wily Imp following his international career with her," said Newcomb. "I competed Will at PSG and Inter I for a couple of years and learnt so much. Trish was not just an exceptional horsewoman, but an inspiring teacher. I loved her attention to detail and knew if she said ‘good!’, it really was good! She leaves behind such a legacy. Every time I teach my pupils, she is there with me as I pass on all that she taught me over the decades.  She was my mentor and a dear friend and I’ll really miss her.“

Newcomb and Gardiner in the early 1990s
Noble stressed that, "as a coach Trish was uncompromising in wanting riders to feel athletic development within the horse and was resolute in the belief that such feel could be taught and learnt. In the decade or so we worked together there was never anything other than utmost respect for the horses."

British dressage trainer Tessa Thorne spent a decade working as barn manager for Trish as of 1984. She groomed Wily Imp at the Seoul Olympics. Tessa remembers, "in 1984, I began working with Trish as her head girl at her dressage yard in Great Somerford. Having trained with Robert Hall at Fulmer, I was fascinated by Trish's approach, which was also heavily influenced by his system. My ten years with Trish were a period of intense learning. She taught me a vast amount about training horses to Grand Prix level along with the day-to-day management of top-tier dressage horses. Trish's methods were consistent, practical, and above all, fair. She had a special knack for working with sensitive horses, particularly the Thoroughbreds she so adored, and her training, inspired by the Spanish Riding School, was built on a foundation of lightness and positivity.“

Training the Sensitive Horse

Trish’s last Grand Prix horse was the beautiful grey British bred Moon Tiger. Foaled in 1986, this son of the eventing sire Java Tiger xx was another sensitive horse that Trish trained from a young age to become a well respected Grand Prix horse on the British circuit, placing for example at Hickstead and at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

Gardiner and Thoroughbred Wily Imp
"The excitement of dressage to me is in the sense of achievement in training your own horse," Trish once said in a Horse & Hound interview. This is certainly something nowadays not instilled in every dressage rider and which also not everybody has the skills to do, horsemanship-wise.

Having come up the levels and succeeded again and again on horses not necessarily bred for the job showcased the unique ability she had to "create a beautifully elastic body movement from any horse. This allowed her to create extraordinary work from relatively ordinary horses. The fact that she could be so successful with a slightly crazy thoroughbred like Wily Imp who had had only modest movement was the proof," Bill Noble stressed.

Judging

Judging at the highest level nationally as a List 1 judge, Trish Gardiner also influenced dressage in her country from that angle. For her various commitments to the sport of dressage in the U.K, British Dressage rewarded Trish Gardiner with the British Dressage Medal of Honour in 2023.

Full Circle

When Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro as well as the British dressage team won two gold medals on home soil at the 2012 Olympic Games in London the feeling of having come "full circle" might be one Trish experienced.

Gardiner hacking Valegro at Hester's yard
When she started her dressage career, she saw the long way Britain still had to go but she rode that path almost from start to finish as of the early 1970s. When Britain won gold in London the highest sportive achievements possible was achieved, something that seemed pretty impossible for her country when she embarked on her dressage journey.

Gardiner fully experienced the golden era of British dressage. As she grew older, she moved a stone's throw away from Carl Hester’s yard in Gloucestershire and being able to hack double Olympic champion Valegro from his prime and well into his retirement on a weekly basis, contributing her part to the well-being of Britain’s legendary dressage horse, if you choose to see it that way. Gardiner also enjoyed hacking Sadie Smith’s up and coming Grand Prix mare Swanmore Dantina during Sadie's time at Hester's.

Carl Hester, a leading figure of British dressage for the past three decades, rode on the same team as Trish at his first European Championships in Donaueschingen (GER) in 1991. They they later became good friends.

"I have lots of really good and lovely memories about Trish. She came over twice a week to hack Valegro and rode him until she was 89“, Hester told Eurodressage at the European championships in Crozet. "She would also sit and watch the training. Trish passed me a lot of knowledge, from Robert Hall as well who was her mentor she really liked.“

An Inspiration

Shannon Dueck on Imhotep, Trish on Valegro
in June 2024
According to Hester Trish was passionate about cooking and bird watching till the end. She gave him the occasional advice  while watching him ride at home and to riders of all levels who sought her valuable support as a trainer and the "complete horsewoman" she was, something rare to find nowadays. She stayed in touch the sport and remained passionate about what dominated her life: Horses and dressage training.

"Trish’s legacy is a testament to her belief in a positive, light, and easy partnership with the horse. For shaping my own journey and for the wisdom she shared, I will always be grateful“, Tessa Thorne told Eurodressage. Bill Noble goes as far as asking, "was she the last of an "old" generation, staying with thoroughbred lightness, or was she the forerunner of a new era, wanting quality movement and harmony, in which the quality of the horse doesn't usurp the quality of the training? Time will tell.“

Let’s hope for the sake of this beautiful sport that the values Trish Gardiner so beautifully embodied, stood for ,and tirelessly passed on to the next generations of riders will be lived up to. There is nothing dressage needs more nowadays than good examples of which Trish was one of the finest.

-- by Silke Rottermann for Eurodressage.com
-- Photos © Elisabeth Weiland, Sally Newcomb archive, Sally-Ann Thompson (Animal Photography)

References

  • Jane Kidd, Goodwood Dressage Champions, Kenilworth Press, Buckingham 1994.
  • St. Georg Magazine, Seoul 1988 Reiter Olympiade, Hamburg 1988.
  • Dorian Williams, The Guinness Guide to Equestrianism, Guinness Superlatives Limited, Enfield 1979.
  • Horse & Hound: Meet Trish Gardiner
  • Bill Noble on 25th August 2025
  • Carl Hester on 26th August 2025
  • Tessa Thorne on 27th August 2025
  • Sally Newcomb on 31st August 2025

Related Links
The History of British Dressage: "I Thought We Would Get There...In 100 Years!"
From Flying Past to Flying Change - Part V: The Thoroughbred in the 1970s
Halsall, Gardner, Gardiner, Olsen Receive British Dressage Medal of Honour
Scores: 1988 Olympic Games
1978 World Championships in Goodwood - Dressage in the Park
1978 World Championships Goodwood Through the Eyes of Christine Stuckelberger
Bill Noble, "Every Man's Story is Important, Unique"