Welcome to the Central Region Alexandra

British Dressage (BD) is delighted to announce Alexandra Phillips as the new Regional Development Officer for the busy Central region. A BD member for over 20 years, Alex started her new role on 1 April and will cover Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Alex was born and brought up in Hong Kong where she first discovered a love of all things equestrian via the Hong Kong Jockey Club. She studied at Hartpury College on a dressage scholarship and graduated with a degree in Equine Veterinary Science. This sparked a 15 year career in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry with global brands like Pfizer (Zoetis), Ceva and MSD which included sales, lecturing, management and education of teams.

This was followed by a second career in the education sector where Alex taught in comprehensive, independent and hospital schools, culminating in her most recent role as Acting Head Teacher at a school in her home county of Worcestershire.

During her busy career, Alex has always made time to combine her passion for dressage. As a rider, she’s produced many horses and ponies from scratch up to Advanced Medium level, including a number of homebreds, and trained with some great names like Franz Rochowansky, Pammy Hutton, Tessa Thorne, Isobel Wessels and Sally Thorndale. She’s represented her region in the Senior Home Internationals and all the other activities on offer like camps, conferences and training.

She’s also experienced the sport as a trainee judge and has written at competitions and international shows. As the proud mum of a BD Youth rider, she’s also got first-hand experience in this key area too which makes her well placed to take on the role of Regional Development Officer and the wide range of activities it encompasses.

Alex commented; “Even in these exceptional times I remain an optimist and am positive and excited about joining British Dressage. I’m minded of a quote by Winston Churchill which sums up my feelings, ‘‘A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”. I’m looking forward to working with the Central Region team and our members so that normality resumes we can all return to enjoying our sport.”