INTERNATIONAL dressage rider Gareth Hughes is coming to Ireland next month to host a special masterclass and is hoping to help not only Irish dressage riders, but our eventers and show jumpers too.

Hughes, who won team gold for Britain at the European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany, last year, and has more than 60 national and international titles to his credit, is also the trainer of Ireland’s Paris Olympics dressage rider Abi Lyle.

Based in Warwickshire, England, with his wife Rebecca and daughter Ruby – both also accomplished dressage riders – he has been invited over by Leinster Dressage for the masterclass at Emerald Equestrian Centre on Sunday, October 6th.

He’ll be helping seven pairs of riders, working through the levels from Preliminary to Grand Prix, while co-hosts Heike Holstein, herself a four-time Olympian, and List 1 judge Mark Ruddock will keep the audience involved by explaining what is going on.

The riders will range from former pony European championships competitor Emily Kate Robinson, now riding the horse she bought herself at the age of 17, to Claire Farrell, whose dancing partner Renneti is a former racehorse.

Also among the riders is Ian Cassells, the Irish international event rider, who is competing at Burghley this weekend, and Hannah Gordon, riding Liam Lynskey’s stallion DS Ballagh Bouncer, fresh from his clear in the Irish Draught performance class at the Dublin Horse Show.

Hughes said this week: “It’s all about trying to give out information. We all love to see the good horses going round, moving nicely, but it’s also nice to see your more normal horses being trained correctly.

“I think it’s nice to have a range of breeds, types and levels to show that basically what we do with them is exactly the same, so hopefully everyone gets something out of it for their level, their level of horse.”

He hoped the masterclass might draw in riders from other disciplines.

“Everything is about education and training. When you are in a smaller country like Ireland, getting trainers in is not always so easy, so having something like this, showing people what we do and how we do it, creating interest in the sport, starts to create a life of its own,” Hughes explained.

Flatwork

“People might think that what we do, to bring our horses from the early days through to Grand Prix and championship level, is far removed from what the everyday person going along to training does – but it’s not.

“I work with eventers, and show jumpers, about what they do before a fence, and flatwork is flatwork. Everybody who rides a horse, benefits from more education on the flat.”

He is aware of the need for dressage to put the emphasis on good horsemanship, in the wake of top riders such as Charlotte Dujardin being investigated for allegations of animal welfare misconduct.

Hughes said the welfare of the horse must always come first in training. “Competing is something we work towards, it gives us a goal, but in terms of your training during the week, it should not change whatever you are working towards at the weekend. The competing is the cherry on the cake, showing off your training, if you have that competitive nature in you,” he said.

Hughes has carried out a number of masterclasses around the world, and said he had never met a horse and rider combination who couldn’t be helped.

“The odd one is a challenge, but I’ve been fairly lucky, I haven’t had any combinations thrown at me who took me by surprise and I couldn’t work with – but you never know,” he said.

“The thing is with these riders who come in for a masterclass, they come in wanting to do the best they can. They’ll be nervous, riding in front of people, and the main thing is for me to keep it entertaining for the public, and to educate the riders, and to give the horse and rider a really positive experience.”

Tickets for the masterclass are on sale at Leinster Dressage’s Its Plain Sailing page. Spectators can stay all day, or just attend the 45-minute sessions they are most interested in, which run in ascending order from Preliminary level at 10am to the final Grand Prix session at 3.30pm.