Diary dates 2018 Spring/Summer Bolesworth CDI3* 13-17 June

Hartpury CDI3*CPEDI Newsletter 2018 3-8 July

Carl Hester Yard Visit 12th July

Bishop Burton CPEDI1-2* 23-27 July CARL HESTER YARD VISIT 2018 Aachen 18-22 July We have secured another date! 12th July. Those lucky Hickstead International enough to visit Carl and his team at his lovely yard in 26-29 July last year had the wonderful opportunity

Bishop Burton to see how and why Team Hester is so successful at the Pony Europeans 7-12 August highest levels - trainer, horses, riders, backup team - all

Sheepgate U25 working smoothly and in unison to consolidate the UK’s Championships position at the top of the global dressage tree! 20-25 August Don’t miss out - a reservation, including a cheque, Bishop Burton Snr Home Int ensures you of a wonderful morning. (£70 for members, £80 31 Aug - 2 Sept for guests) (Photos allowed in the yard after the morning session)

World Visit the BDSC website or contact Equestrian Games [email protected] Tryon, NC, USA Dressage 12-14 & 16 Sept

Stoneleigh Alan & Valegro waiting to greet you all! Nationals 20-23 Sept

Olympia 17-18 Dec ********************

Photography courtesy of Kevin Sparrow

1 COMMITTEE

Chairman

Penny Smith CHAIRMAN’S LETTER - Penny Smith Flat 4 100 Sunderland Ave. Dear Members London W91HP 0207 286 1536 A big welcome to our first newsletter of 2018. Hopefully you will be feeling much refreshed by our long awaited spring sunshine Vice Chairman Ann Dugdale after such an incredible wet, muddy and cold last few months. 01767 651904 A huge goodbye then to the ‘beast from the East!’ Treasurer BDSC is looking forward to another great year. We are again Denish Hulse sponsoring the Judges’ Convention at Bishop Burton, the Para 01953 717477 Development Day, Sheepgate Pony Championship, and the Membership Senior Home International. Jane Kendall 01444 811969 Of course we will have our marquees at Hickstead International Overseas Trips Dressage Show (overlooking the warm-up arena), and at the Lorrie Sisson Nationals (overlooking the main arenas). All are welcome to the 01992 522721 marquees to watch great dressage, have some wine and food, Hospitality and meet up with friends. We will once again be proud to be Gill Gallagher part of the Hickstead 1000 Club which raises sponsorship for Cathy Wriight & the show from within the sport. Pauline Avery Very importantly Andrea Hessay is organising another visit to Para & Northern Rep Debi Woods Carl Hester’s yard – definitely NOT to be missed. 01332 458744 Lastly I wish to thank the committee for all their hard work and Newsletter I look forward to meeting up with many of you in the next few Andrea Hessay months. Thank you for your support of the Club and please do 01527 456251 enjoy what we have to offer. For email addresses, use first name Very best wishes @bdsc.uk.com Penny Smith

PS: Wishing every success to our British Dressage team at the World Championships in North Carolina in September

SPRING/SUMMER NEWSLE T T E R 2 MEET TEAM HEADMORE

Andrea met Sarah and Alice Oppenheimer and Dannie Morgan at the 2018 Winter Championships at Hartpury. Sarah has been with and worked with horses all her life so, inevitably, she put her daughter Alice, aged not a lot, on a horse and Alice has been riding ever since. At about ten years old, she had one of those ponies we all know (and love) who spent its time dumping her in front of jumps which turned her to the supposedly more gentle sport of dressage! At this point, Sarah was ill and her horse, Dacapo II, was ridden by Kate Smith at the Solihull Winters in the Elementary FSM whereupon Alice announced that she wanted to do the same. Through PC and local dressage, on home grown horses, Alice got the experience that has made her the international dressage rider she is today and, in particular, the one to beat in FSM. Sarah inherited a TB mare from a friend who died, and whose family requested that the mare not be ridden, so she became Headmore’s foundation mare. They put her to Dimaggio at the beginning of his career and the rest is history. Sarah acquired a second mare, also put to Dimaggio, and these days they use their own mares and, with the competition horses, embryo transfer of which they do about two a year. So the stud almost developed on its own, with no real structured plan initially, and with Grand Prix a distant dream – ten years on, GP is a reality with Alice (now 28) and Dannie scooping up their fair share of rosettes. All their young horses are for sale but if, for some reason, they don’t sell then the Headmore team produces them up through the levels. The home team, built up over several years and which includes sister Kate who very sensibly is a vet, is what keeps Headmore, its horses and riders, at the forefront of UK dressage, together with their regular trainer, Erik Thielgaard, and with input from whenever possible. Erik is much appreciated for his quiet, relaxed, inspirational training and they credit him with their successes over the years. Dannie (27) comes from a non-horsey background in Southampton. He started riding at a riding school, had help from David Stone from Bow Lake Equestrian and joined the Headmore team a couple of years ago, initially to help with Headmore Davina. When Alice broke her fingers, Dannie had a crash course on riding Grand Prix on Alice’s advanced horses but generally rides the young horses and is a keen event rider. His own horse, Southern Cross Braemar, aka Barry, has been very successful and is currently at PSG. Continued overleaf

3 Currently, there are five competition horses and a couple of youngsters, down from a rather too large stable of 12. Alice and Dannie had several wins at Hartpury on the 6 horses they campaigned from Novice to Advanced Medium so 2018 is about consolidating the younger horses’ experience and Headmore Wimoweh in her debut at Grand Prix. Team Headmore epitomises the very true saying ‘the more I practice the luckier I get’.

*************************************************************************************************

BDSC TROPHIES - The winner of the Betty Donkin Trophy, awarded annually to the highest placed rider in the FEI Junior Team Test, was Maddy Whelan. (left), who rode Sandy Phillip’s Diamond Design. The BDSC Pony Trophy was awarded to Annabelle Pidgley; this trophy is awarded to the pony rider who, in the Selectors’ opinion, produced the best performances at Premier League shows during the year.

Lorrie Sisson, representing BDSC, presented both trophies.

*************************************************************************************************

OBITUARIES

It is with great sadness that we report on the demise of the following friends and

colleagues from the world of equestrian sport, all well respected and greatly missed Our thoughts are with their families and friends. Cynthia Llewellen Palmer; Stewart Hastie; Helen Webber; Lynne Baldwin; Lindsay Ryan; Briget Powell and Mike Tucker.

4 MEET SUZANNA HEXT & THE HUTTON FAMILY’S ABIRA

On the day of the visit to Talland to meet Suzanna, she had just witnessed one of Talland’s staff riders have a horrible fall very reminiscent of the accident she had in 2012, which changed the course of her life. Suzanna had been a successful event rider, with much potential in her chosen sport, although dressage was not top of her list of likes. Breaking in a young horse, he reared up over backwards, landed on her, rolled over twice and crushed just about everything crushable. She spent months in the John Radcliffe, in the major trauma and neuro units and, with the help of a ’horsey’ physio, started the slow journey back. Within 2 years of the accident, she was on board an RDA horse in Cornwall, Buster, who helped Suzanna recover her love of riding, even though to start with she could barely cope with riding a circle! She still has major issues but much less so when she’s on a horse. Pammy Hutton has long trained Suzanna, knows her well from her time at Cirencester Agricultural College when she rode at Talland, and suggested she ride Amo, not the easiest mare but very rewarding. When a horse that Suzanna was scheduled to compete bucked someone else off, Abira was offered as the substitute and, quietly over several rides and without there being a definitive moment, a partnership was born. Abira competed with the four Huttons, (Pammy, Charlie, Pippa and Abi), he has 5 Europeans, 3 National championships and countless others successes in Juniors, Young Riders and, of course, Paras, to his credit - he is a legend and, at 18 years old, owes no-one anything. He’s a shiverer, can’t be shod behind and he is a double colic survivor; he has the heart of a lion and gives total trust and concen-tration between horse and rider. When Suzanna needs to make a bad day better, she rides Abira. 3 Gold medals from the Europeans in 2017 cemented Suzanna’s claim to the top level but she admits that Abira did it all for her on the third day, as she had nothing left to give, so he literally won her that medal. Plans for 2018 will centre firmly on Abira’s welfare and how much more it is fair to ask of him; meanwhile Suzanna has younger horses coming through and, on her first outing at Grade II (having been at Grade III) previously, she won her class.

PS - if you can spot excess admiration for Abira, it is because Andrea rode him once and has never forgotten the amazing feel he gave her!

Abira & Suzanna at WEG in Gothenburg, 2017

5

Isobel Wessels

Rider, trainer, judge in that order! Currently riding Chagall successfully at Grand Prix, she has been the dressage coach for the New Zealand Event team since 2011 and, of course, she officiates at the top level internationally as a dressage judge. She keeps her horses close by her Gloucestershire home. She started judging almost by default as, living in South Africa, she did every job including putting the boards out and it was suggested that she try judging. She did the necessary to pass the exams, and judged up to Inter I. At the time, dressage in SA was dominated by Germans so the German system was very much her background. On returning to the UK, with a letter from the SA Federation, she found herself eligible to try for List 2. Her mentor was Miss Pouldon who suggested that List 3 was a better place to start, which was the best advice. When she went for List 2, with Stephen Clark as her examiner, she was much encouraged when he said to her that she could judge him anytime! This gave her the inspiration to carry on and everything grew from there. List 1 was achieved, quickly followed by the international 3* qualification. She and her husband then went to Germany, complete with dog and several horses, where she pursued the judging, making 4* in due course, which was her aim. Invited to many top level shows, she became well known and was invited to become one of the few international 5* judges. Judging at this level comes with its own pressures and, whilst rewarding and a huge honour, it’s like being in a goldfish bowl with the armchair experts just waiting to apportion blame via social media. The marks are well prescribed and can only be awarded for correct training and riding so she is always concerned to be fair and open-minded regarding the wide range of individual styles presented.

Chagall could have been a top horse, although she doesn’t consider herself a top rider, but a slight cut on a hind leg developed into an infection in the coffin joint so he missed a year. She persevered against all advice and his comeback was a great personal triumph for her belief in him as a fighter; her vet cried when he saw the horse trotting sound! It then took another year to get him fit and trained to Grand Prix. Their recent GP successes say a lot about the characters of both horse and rider (and vet!).

She loves training with the NZ team, attending the top events with such a strong team most of whom are based in the UK and she works with them several times a month; she will be wearing the NZ uniform for WEG in Tryon, North Carolina, later this year. The 2018 Badminton results speak volumes - personal best dressage scores all round! Training horses and people is her job and her passion and, if she had to choose, judging would come third at the moment. With her achievements, she has nothing to prove; she feels very lucky to be fit, healthy and able to ride her lovely horses.

6 Judges Convention - Bishop Burton This important annual Convention is one with which BDSC has been associated for some time. We support British Dressage, together with title sponsor NAF and PetPlan Equine, in ensuring that judges have the best possible information and advice from the top. Using the splendid facilities at Bishop Burton College, that well known duo, Stephen Clarke, FEI 5* judge & FEI Judge General, and Ferdi Eilberg, top international trainer. reprised their by now familiar routine, with Stephen judging and giving feedback to the riders and then Ferdi taking over, working with riders to improve their horses’ way of going to glean extra marks from Stephen. In spite of all the riders being more than competent and, in several cases, very experienced riders and trainers, it was notable that Ferdi and Stephen kept returning to the mantra of rhythm, rhythm and rhythm. This, allied with the correct use of corners, correct positioning, keeping the hindlegs engaged and the forward uphill tendency maintained, with a light but equal and even contact, made considerable improvements. Inevitably, the Convention ends up being very much a training day, in all senses, and plenty of riders, owners and trainers find it valuable - and judges are surely better for being totally au fait with training. We were privileged to watch some beautiful horses and their riders improve under the watchful eyes of our two presenters and each combination more than rose to the occasion. Riders included Bryony Goodwin, Becky Moody, Amy Woodhead, Jayden Brown and Lisa Marriott. Thanks to all concerned.

British Equestrian Federation (BEF) - INDEPENDENT REVIEW - MARCH 2018 As a result of internal disruption within the BEF which came to a head in 2017, an independent review was commissioned, with support from UK Sport and Sport , to comment on evidence brought forward and recommend strategies to move the sport’s administration forward. The Review’s recommendations were accepted in full by the BEF’s new Board and Executive Management in early 2018. Full collaboration and cooperation between the BEF and the member bodies, i.e. BD, BE, BS, the BHS & the Pony Club, are essential components for transparent governance. Renewed enthusiasm from all parties should ensure that equestrian sport has a strong future. The full report is available from the BEF website (www.bef.co.uk)

7 MEMBERSHIP Data Protection Regulations

New regulations came into force on 25 May 2018 and we must provide you with information on our data policy and how we use the data you give us. Our policy is set out below. It does not change our basic approach as we do not share any information we collect from you with any other person without your specific consent.

BDSC Privacy Notice BDSC intends to use your data for the purposes of administering the membership of our organisation. We will not use your information for any other reason without asking you. We collect your data through on line submission and paper documents. Our lawful basis for processing your information is your written consent, any legal requirement and any contract entered into. Our data retention periods follow the statutory guidelines. We may retain your information for longer during your membership. You have the right:

To be provided with the data that we hold relating to you To rectify/update the data To ask us to remove the data To restrict processing To data portability To object to the use of your data And not to be subjected to automated decision making including profiling. *************************** In spite of several reminders, some members who pay by standing order have still not updated their standing orders so if this applies to you please take action as we do not have any authority to do so. MEMBERSHIP RATES Annual £25 Family & Corporate £50 Life £250 *************************** After 15 years, it is time to look for a new younger Membership Secretary with some new ideas. If anyone would be interested in taking this over, please contact [email protected] for further information. Briefly you need to:  be able to use and keep up to date a Microsoft Access database including entering new members, updating payments, transferring unpaid members etc.  you need to understand mail merges with Word and Excel so that you can print labels, send out reminders when subscriptions are due and membership cards when paid.  the busiest months are July, August and September and most standing orders are paid at the beginning of the month.  membership forms need to be kept up to date and printed copies available for use in marquees at Hickstead and the Nationals etc. There are many other jobs and I am happy to give as much help as I can to whoever takes over. Jane Kendall

8