BALANCING being a professional dressage rider alongside raising a toddler while expecting baby number two is no easy feat, but this is exactly what Co Down’s Courtney Akkari is managing to do.

Describing her journey into dressage and discussing the high hope she has for her current horses, Courtney told The Irish Field: “I’m fortunate to have grown up with horses. My mum, Adrienne Stuart, started the Gransha Equestrian Centre in Co Down 40 years ago this February just passed, so horses were always in my life. Mum show jumped for Ireland when she was younger and also worked away a lot.

“My sister, Kirsty Jackson, is also full-time with the horses. She did compete in dressage, but now she has two young girls and focuses on their riding, she travels to shows a lot with her daughter, Grace.

“When I was younger, it was all about jumping for me. The only way you could get me into a dressage ring was if it was before I could go cross-country; I didn’t love it at all. I did a bit of everything really. We would take the truck in the summer and head off for a couple of months. I did the sports pony class in Burghley a couple of times and did Balmoral and stuff as well,” Courtney explained.

“When I left school, I went to Talland and studied with Pammy Hutton and that’s where I fell in love with dressage. I stayed there for two years, working and riding and did all my BHS exams there.

“I then came home and thought I would stay and take over the yard. I was home for about a year and then I decided to move to California and work for former Olympic dressage rider, Jan Ebeling. I stayed there for two years and, during that time, got to compete and learn so much.”

Making a name

“When I returned home, I bought a horse named Fanfarron 8, who actually came from Talland. He was amazing and really allowed me to make a name for myself in dressage. We did a lot of work with Anne Marie (Dunphy) and we travelled a lot and achieved some good international results.

“Unfortunately, Fanfarron developed arthritis when he was 16 years old, so he retired. Since then, I’ve been very lucky with the horses I have had. We always had to buy them young and produce them ourselves, we don’t have the funds to buy them ready-made.

“I had a big black stallion named HH Empire, who I bought as a three-year-old and I got him up to Inter 1 and sold him to a young rider. I also had a very good mare Betty Boo Too, who I also bought as a four-year-old. She evented a bit too, we did the National eventing champs at Tattersalls, but she also did dressage to Advanced Medium.

“Then I got asked to go back to America, to go to Wellington (Florida) just to do a season. So I did that in 2018 to 2019. I was there for eight months, again with Jan’s family and competed a lot, from young horses to Grand Prix, which was brilliant. They had a lot of clients that didn’t mind us riding their horses, which was great.

“When I came home, I bought Favorino, the little bay gelding I have now, as a four-year-old. He is very talented, but unfortunately picked up an injury at the end of 2023 and is only really back in work now. We are still taking it very easy and gradually getting him back to full fitness.

Family life

“I met my husband Chris in 2019; he was our vet, and we got married in 2022 and had our first little boy, Rupert, in 2023.

“I took about six weeks off from riding when I had Rupert and, when I came back, myself, mum and Chris bought Bernabeo in February 2024. He’s been brilliant. We bought him from an auction in Holland, completely unseen. We just took a bit of a risk and he has worked out really well. He’s an absolute gentleman.

Courtney Akkari and Bernabeo at the DAFM Studbook Series final at CoilÓg \ Louise O'Brien Photography

“My plan now with him is to do the show here in Gransha at the end of the month and then the National championships in April. Hopefully, my bump doesn’t explode too much between now and then, because I’m due baby number two in July.

“I’m very lucky that, although Bernabeo is only five years old, he is very sensible and easy to ride, so I don’t think I’m taking too much of a risk by continuing to ride. Once the championships are finished, I’ll take a break to have the baby.

“I’m very lucky to have my sister and my mum, who will keep the horses running while I’m off, and I’m hoping to get back in the saddle after not too long. It’s a nice time of the year, so if the horses have to take a break, at least they can get out into the field. I was back riding six weeks after having Rupert, so hopefully something similar would be lovely this time,” Courtney said.

Olympic training

“I have been training with Irish Olympian Abi Lyle for the past year or so. We have known each other since my Talland days. She comes over about once every six weeks or so.

“I went over to visit her recently and got to ride some of her horses, and the feeling of riding Arty [Giraldo, her Olympic mount] is something I’ll never experience again, I don’t think! I’ve ridden Grand Prix horses in America, but I’ve never sat on anything like him, he’s a different thing altogether.

“When she was here, she worked with me and Favorino and she said she thinks he really has something special.

“He has the collection so easily that I think he has the potential to go all the way to the top. He has this weakness of his injury and I don’t know what that will withstand, so that may be what will hold him back, we will just have to wait and see. He did a suspensory and it is so easy for them to be recurring, so I’m just taking it one day at a time with him.

“Bernabeo has the mindset to go all the way. He is so willing. He has such a lovely personality. If I’m going off what he has done so far, he’ll definitely go all the way. Of the 20 tests he did as a four-year-old, he won 19 of them, and was second in the other one. He is a pleasure to produce.

“I really enjoy working with the young horses. I’m lucky because the yard is busy here. We have about 50 liveries and a riding school, so there’s always something going on and they see so much. When they go to shows, they are accustomed to a lot of action. I like to take them to as many shows as possible as four and five-year-olds, because they need the arena time.

“I would like to have another few young horses to work with, but it is all just a matter of getting the balance right. We are very excited about this new addition coming in July and I have to work the horses around family life.

“Maybe when Rupert is in school, I will have more time to dedicate to just riding and can expand my string. But at the moment Chris is so busy, his practice is the second biggest equine one in the North, and my main income is from teaching. Getting the balance right is tricky enough, but possible.”

Courtney Akkari with her husband Chris and Bernabeo