Gareth Hughes

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 Jane Brewin’s 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 his own, Rebecca Hughes and Julia Hornig's Classic Briolinca. They put in three excellent performances, achieving personal best scores in each round 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 the fulfilled with great passion and support, despite never getting to compete. Their dedication was rewarded with a place in the team for Hagen shortly after where they were part of the silver medal winning quartet.

Gareth joined the team at the 2022 World Championships in Herning, their final Grand Prix score of 75.978%, finishing in sixth place helped the British team gain silver and qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.