 |
| Sweep with Richard on the canter track |
Introduce yourself
I am first and foremost known as an
international dressage rider and a coach, but amongst my other roles, I’ve done
a four-year term as British World Class Performance Manager and have been a
coach to the UK Sports World Class Development Show Jumping Program for almost
a decade. I’ve been on the organising team behind many high-level competitions
and found myself a member of many influential committees working in the equestrian
industry around the world.
Where are you based? Tell us a little about your location and
facilities
I am based in Staffordshire where we
have our family home and training facilities. These include indoor and outdoor
arenas, a grass jumping paddock, canter track, covered horse walker, solarium
and internal stabling for both our resident horses and a separate block of
stables for horses whose riders are visiting for training.
What is your main competition discipline and at which level(s) are you
involved?
Although I am a dressage rider and I
have trained the World Class Development Show Jumping Squad for more than 15
years. I also have my own show jumpers. I have competed at four Olympic Games
and have won both Olympic and European medals.
Tell us a little about your top horses
Bubblingh is my current grand prix
horse. He is home bred out of Ballaseyr Royale, the mare I rode in the Athens
Olympics, World Games and also in the European Championships ,where she won a
bronze medal. Bubblingh was long listed for the Rio Olympics but it came a bit
early for him, so it would be lovely if he makes it to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
What have been the highlights of the current season so far?
Bubblingh hasn’t been out yet this season
and I plan to start him at Windsor. We’ve had some good success with our jumpers
in Florida this year and when my son Joe returns at the end of March, we will
get six or seven of the show jumping horses to shows in the UK and Europe. Our
show jumpers compete internationally and last year had a couple of British Team
duties.
What other major successes have you enjoyed in your equine career to
date?
Everyone will expect me to answer
this with competition highlights such as big championships, Olympics, National
titles and more, but the truth is I do this because I love training and riding
horses. Hence my greatest personal successes and satisfaction is when an up and
coming horse learns a flying change, or suddenly gets the transition from
piaffe to passage, or finds an even stride to a jump. I can’t even list what
I’ve won as it becomes history the following day, but I can bore anyone to
death about the horses I’ve trained over more than forty years !!
With whom do you train regularly?
My wife Gillian is a successful
grand prix rider so we help each other. When we are at big shows together Carl
Hester and I have always helped each other, as we’ve done that for so many
years now.
Which three tasks do you carry out EVERY day on the yard?
Well, the most important one at the
start of everyday is to work my sheepdog! She is called Sweep and does not let
me do anything else until we’ve done that.
Then it’s a walk around the yard to
check each horse and catch up with the staff.
After that I write a list of the
timings of the daily training, together with any other information about the
day.
How do your horses benefit from the use of the ArcEquine and why do you feel it is an important element in your success?
We use ArcEquine to maintain healthy
cell function. Every part of the horse’s body is made up of cells. There are
many different types but it’s critical that they are all able to function optimally,
as this maintains the physiological balance.
In equestrian sport it is often
impossible to avoid injury and inevitably some structures, especially soft
tissues, become weakened or damaged. We have found ArcEquine helps the horse to
restore its body back to a healthy state with minimum delay.
What happens next?
This year we have a busy year with
the top dressage horses and building up the team of jumpers. We will see how
each horse is developing and work out a provisional competition plan
accordingly.
What is your favourite meal?
Steak – you knew I’d say that didn’t
you?!
What are your most worn items of clothing
Breeches!
Snow or beach holiday?
Snow
Dogs or cats?
Both, but of course Sweep comes top
of the pile.
And finally – Tea or Coffee?
Both – coffee in the morning, tea in
the afternoon (but no biscuits, sadly).
