Olympia gets set to honour British stars

The audience on Thursday, December 16, will be able to show their support for the Team GB riders and individuals who won medals at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.

The eventing, dressage, para-equestrian dressage and vaulting teams will all take part in the parade.

Joining them will be Team GB's young riders, who have also been outstanding this year.

Will Connell, World Class Performance director, said: "It has been a phenomenal year for our equestrian stars. Not only did Team GB manage 19 medals at the Alltech World Equestrian Games but our young riders have also enjoyed great success in Europe. We should all be extremely proud of their achievements and there's no better place than Olympia for everyone to celebrate their success."

Britain's gold-medal winning eventing team from the World Equestrian Games includes Yorkshire's Nicola Wilson.

Dressage rider and silver medallist Laura Bechtolsheimer will also be competing at Olympia and performing a dressage display.

On the Wednesday evening she will be demonstrating how she works with her horses in training, using one of her up-and-coming charges.

This will be a first for Laura who said: "I love Olympia and the great Christmas buzz it has and I'm delighted to be attending. It will be strange doing a demonstration in the arena, just hours ahead of the Freestyle but I hope it will help me to keep my cool."

The four WEG team gold medallists from the Netherlands, Edward Gal, Adelinde Cornellissen, Hans Peter Minderhoud and and Imke Schellekens-Bartels are also among the entries at Olympia for the FEI World Cup dressage qualifier.

While Gal no longer has his record-breaking partner Totilas, with whom he won the Olympia qualifier last year, he will be bringing one of his two future stars – either the 11-year-old mare, Sisther de Jeu, or the stallion, Interfloor Next One.

Bechtolsheimer would be a favourite for the class if she takes Mistral Hojris and her other option is Andretti H, with whom she won this year's British National Championship in September. Olympic rider Richard Davison with Hiscox Artemis and Stephanie Croxford with Mr President are also top British entries.

FOUR young showjumpers from Northallerton have won their way to the finals of a national competition just over a year after their comprehensive school equestrian team was formed.

Abby Robinson, 13, from Danby Wiske; Beth Keen, 14, from West Rounton; Jemma Alderson, 14, from Girsby and Laura Foster, 14, from Great Smeaton, came third in their first National Schools Equestrian Association showjumping competition and at their second contest they came top.

Their success qualified them for the national championships at Addington Manor in Buckinghamshire this weekend.

The girls, from Allertonshire School, are trained by Eleanor Mercer, who runs an equestrian centre based at Camp Hill, near Bedale.

They all ride their own horses and managed to attract sponsorship from local equine and agricultural supplier William McIvor and Son after Laura wrote a letter asking for help.

The young riders were just 12 and 13 when they qualified in March and while Laura and Beth now go to Northallerton College, they are allowed to compete at this weekend's finals.

A NEW eventing series is to be run next season for British Riding Club (BRC) members.

Organised in conjunction with British Eventing, the series will culminate in a Championship for grass-roots BRC members.

It will also give BRC members a taste of British Eventing affiliated competitions and give them access to more competition opportunities.

Every section of the BE80, from March 1 to September 10, will be a qualifier for the Championship. BRC members and horses must be eligible to compete in BE80(T) classes (an entry-level training class).

Members can take part in the series by either becoming a British Eventing member of by having a BE training ticket which costs 10 from the BE website. To qualify for the inaugural championship, which will be held at Brooksby College in September, riders must be one of the two highest-placed BRC members with a clear cross country round, in each BE80(t) section.

More details about the series are available on the BE website, www.britisheventing.com

IF you have done any dressage, the chances are that you will have struggled to learn a test at some point. You may even have had a blank moment and been left frantically searching for your next move as the seconds tick away to the judge's bell.

Dressage tests are notoriously difficult to learn for all sorts of scientific reasons, according to psychology graduate and dressage rider Lydia Ebdon.

When she started judging, Lydia says she saw at first-hand how common it is to lose your way and how upsetting it can be.

Now Lydia, who lives in Easingwold, has put together a website to help with this problem and she has also launched the idea of Easy Dressage mini practice arenas to help people learn their tests by practising them on their feet.

The mini practice arenas are marked with the letters and dimensions of a full-size arena and can be used indoors or outdoors.

The new website, www.easydressage.co.uk, also includes tips on preparing for and riding your dressage test and templates so that you can draw a test plan.