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Dressage squad for Herning 2022

Richard Davison

Age: 66
Based in: Uttoxeter, Staffordshire

Richard is the consummate equestrian, both in and out of the saddle. As a rider, he’s represented his country at elite level in a career spanning four decades, with ten championship appearances across the Olympic Games and World and European Championships. As a Fellow of the British Horse Society, he is much in demand as a coach and mentor, while he uses a commercial background towards striving to improve elite sport from organisational, engagement, welfare and financial angles, working with organisers and the FEI. His wife Gill is a top rider and trainer, while sons followed in his footsteps – Tom is a US-based coach, while Joe showjumps professionally.

A four-time FEI World Cup Finalist, Richard has been a key part of the rise of British dressage. He was a part of the first ever British team to win a championship medal in 1993 and the second a decade later, then focused on team management for a spell where he captained the team at the 2008 Olympics and Europeans the next year where they took silver, the start of a raft of success ahead of London 2012, where he rode as an individual.

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Bubblingh

Known as: Bubble
Owners: Gwendolyn Sontheim and Richard Davison
Colour: Bay
Sex: Gelding
Height: 16.3hh
Age: 16yrs
Bloodlines: Lingh x Picandt
Breeder: Richard Davison GBR
Groom: Heidi Troniseck

Competing in Herning will be a huge milestone for the Davison family because ‘Bubble’ was bred by Richard, who competed his dam, Ballaseyr Royale (Matajo), including partnering her to team bronze in the 2002 World Championships and being crowned National Champions the following year. Richard and the 16-year-old have competed internationally for seven years and have a number of CDI wins to their name, and have helped many a Nations Cup team to a top-five finish. Over the past two seasons, they’ve rarely scored below 70%, and have finished on the podium twice this year with their Freestyle performances and in the top ten all their outdoor Grand Prix starts.

FEI record

Personal Bests

Grand Prix	Grand Prix Special	Grand Prix Freestyle
73.391%	71.372%	78.785%
Hickstead CDI3* (2018)	Oliva CDI3* (2016)	Bolesworth CDI3* (2019)

Charlotte Dujardin

Age: 37
Based in: Newent, Gloucestershire

Charlotte began her equestrian career in showing at a young age – her interest in dressage started in 2007 when she went for lessons with Carl Hester. After several lessons and a short time spent working on the yard, Carl offered her a full time position as a rider.

Charlotte made her senior championship debut, partnered with Valegro, at the FEI European Championship in 2011 at Herning – the first time a British dressage team won a gold medal. The pair went to their first Olympic Games in 2012 and returned with two gold medals. They went on to win five team medals and seven individual golds for Great Britain at championship level, including team silver and individual gold at the Rio 2016 Games. Together, they concurrently held World, European and Olympic champion titles and still hold the world records in the Grand Prix (87.460%, Olympia CDI-W 2014); Grand Prix Special (88.022%, Hagen CDI4* 2012) and Grand Prix Freestyle (94.300%, Olympia CDI-W 2014) tests.

Following Valegro's retirement, Charlotte took Mount St John Freestyle to the World Equestrian Games at Tryon in 2018, securing team and individual bronze. She contested her third Games in Tokyo with the 'pocket rocket' Gio, where three brave performances helped the team to a bronze medal and took a bronze for themselves in the Freestyle against the odds. The pair headed to Hagen in Germany for the FEI European Championships a matter of weeks later and put their experience to good use, claiming a silver team medal and securing a second bronze individually.

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Imhotep

Known as: Pete
Owners: Carl Hester and Coral Ingham
Colour: Chestnut
Sex: Gelding
Height: 16.2hh
Age: 9yrs
Bloodlines: Everdale x Vivaldi
Breeder: T Huizing NED
Groom: Alan Davies

Imhotep is the son of Everdale, who Herning team mate Lottie Fry rode at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and FEI European Championship last year. He was born in the Netherlands and purchased by Carl Hester as a young horse, after Carl saw a video of him. Initially competed by stable rider Sadie Smith, Charlotte took the reins in 2020 and the pair are unbeaten on British soil, progressing from Advanced Medium to Grand Prix level. They first came to the attention of dressage fans after taking three small tour titles at the National Dressage Championships in September 2021, before making their Grand Prix debut the following March with a score of almost 78%. Although Imhotep is relatively inexperienced, there is no better rider than Charlotte to guide him through his first championship – with Charlotte's sights firmly set on taking him to Paris 2024, this will be an exciting debut to watch.

FEI record

Personal Bests

Grand Prix	Grand Prix Special	Grand Prix Freestyle
77.830%	78.362%	N/A
Myerscough Premier League (2022)	Wellington CDI3* (2022)

Charlotte Fry

Age: 26
Based in: Den Hout, the Netherlands and originally from Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Lottie was born into dressage – her late mother, Laura Fry, had competed at the 1992 Olympics and was a European team silver medallist before going on to run a successful dressage training yard at home in Yorkshire. Lottie was sat in the corner during lessons and training most days and was riding a horse before she could walk. From 2012, Lottie trained with Carl Hester, who rode on the 1992 Olympic team with her mum, and he helped her to secure a place at Van Olst Horses in Holland, working and training with five-time Danish Olympian Anne Van Olst. Lottie continues to be based there.

Having secured a trio of medals at the FEI U25 European Championships with Dark Legend, Lottie's first senior team call up came when she was just 23, when she rode Dark Legend as part of the fourth-placed team at the FEI Dressage European Championship in Rotterdam. Her next team appearance was at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with the young, expressive stallion Everdale, who she jointly owns with the Van Olsts – they made a lasting impression, helping Britain to team bronze as well as finishing 13th in the Freestyle. At the FEI Dressage European Championship in Hagen just a few weeks later, Lottie and Everdale put their Olympic experience to use and achieved three personal bests, which saw them finish fifth in all three tests, play a key role in the team's silver medal and score 84%+ in the Freestyle.

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Glamourdale

Known as: Glammy
Owners: Van Olst Horses
Colour: Black
Sex: Stallion
Height: 16.3hh
Age: 11yrs
Bloodlines: Lord Leatherdale x Negro
Breeder: J Rodenburg NED
Groom: Richard Neale

Related to the great Valegro through his damsire line, Glamourdale is a breeding stallion based at Van Olst Horses. He and Lottie won the FEI Young Horse World Championship in 2018 when he was seven years old, receiving a perfect 10 for their canter work. They made their Grand Prix debut in 2021 and in that time have never finished lower than seventh in all their international outings. Glammy's first time representing Great Britain was at the Nations Cup in Compiègne in May, where he and Lottie topped the leaderboard in both tests and gained a personal best in the Grand Prix. Selection for Herning offers Glammy the chance to step out of the shadow of his half-brother, Lottie's Olympic and European Championship ride Everdale, and show what he can do on the senior world stage – the dressage world waits with bated breath.

FEI record

Personal Bests

Grand Prix	Grand Prix Special	Grand Prix Freestyle
79.435%	80.979%	83.235%
Compiègne CDIO5*-NC (2022)	Opglabbeek CDI4* (2022)	Grote-Brogel CDI3* (2022)

Gareth Hughes

Age: 51
Based in: Southam, Warwickshire

Although born in Yorkshire, Gareth grew up in Australia, where he spent a lot of his childhood competing in western riding and showing. He returned to England when he was 23 and started to become involved in dressage, working at Paradise Farm in Oxfordshire. In 1999 he was offered a horse to ride when he met FEI dressage judge and trainer, Stephen Clarke, who he now considers as one of his main influences.

In 2013, Gareth received his first call-up to the senior team with DV Stenkjers Nadonna, coming off the reserve bench to replace Laura Tomlinson. They helped the team win bronze and, a year later, were part of Great Britain’s squad for the World Equestrian Games, where they won team silver. Following a series of strong results, Gareth was selected to be part of the squad heading to the 2019 European Championships with Classic Briolinca. They put in three personal best performances and finished best of the Brits in tenth in the Freestyle.

In 2020, Gareth caught the selectors' attention with Judy Firmston-Williams' Sintano van hof Olympia and they were duly named as travelling reserves for the Tokyo Olympic Games, a role they fulfilled with great passion and support, despite never getting to compete. Their dedication was rewarded with a place in the team for the FEI European Championship in Hagen shortly after, where they were part of the silver medal winning quartet.

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