Dressage riders confirmed for HOYS 2018

This year’s Horse of the Year Show features the sixth running of the annual Dressage Future Elite Championship.

Taking place during the evening performance on Thursday 4 October, this prestigious competition provides a platform for the UK's rising Grand Prix horses to gain invaluable experience under the spotlight at a world famous international event. In conjunction with British Dressage, the popular Championship is designed for horses between eight and ten years old. The class will feature a total of eight horse and rider combinations that will each showcase an Intermediate I Freestyle to music.

For the last two years Charlotte Dujardin has taken the title; 2016 riding Hawtins Delicato scoring 78.62% and in 2017 with Mount St John Freestyle scoring 84.91%. Both horses have recently been on the world stage competing at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, proving the worth of the Future Elite Championship at HOYS. This year Charlotte is back competing with the young grey mare Florentina; the pair have recently won the Saracen Horse Feeds Inter I Freestyle at the LeMieux National Dressage Championships 2018. Will she retain her tile this year and make it a hat-trick?

The eight horse and rider combinations competing this year are:

• Nikki Barker with her own and Viv Gleave’s Durable 
• Nicola Buchanan with her own and Diana Reynolds-Hale's Half Moon Dark Magic
• Lewis Carrier with Diego V 
• Charlotte Dujardin with her own Florentina V 
• Emile Faurie with his own Café’s Caletta
• Becky Moody with Jo Cooper’s Eureko 
• Alice Oppenheimer with Sarah Oppenheimer’s Headmore Davina
• Laura Tomlinson with Dr Wilfried Bechtolsheimer’s Fallatijn Van Kairos

Thursday is all about dressage at HOYS. At 2:00pm you can stop by the HOYS Live Zone in the Retail Village where Carl Hester will be doing a Q&A and rider signing ahead of his Masterclass at 4:00pm in the Andrews Bowen International Arena with Charlotte as one of the pupils. Then in the evening, visitors can watch the mesmerising young talent in the Dressage Future Elite Championship which will commence at approximately 6:10pm. There is still chance to buy tickets, head to https://www.theticketfactory.com/hoys/online/ or call 0844 581 8282.