News

In the latest round of updates, the First Ministers for Scotland and Wales delivered positive news which will facilitate the full resumption of British Dressage activity in both regions, with earlier dates than originally anticipated for further relaxation in lockdown restrictions.

We’re on the final countdown to the 2021 Premier League season opener at Keysoe which is just a few days away! There are some changes to the ever-popular series this year which features a seven-fixture strong calendar across some of the sport's most adored venues.

British Dressage is proud to launch a new series of freestyle to music tests written specifically for our bronze and silver para rider community. This remarkable step forward is key for developing athletes as they provide the foundations for international competition as well as giving riders a new aim.

The build up to Tokyo has begun for our senior riders with the following horse and rider combinations selected to represent Great Britain this week at two international fixtures, Hagen 21 – 25 April in Germany and Opglabbeek 22 – 25 April in Belgium.

After time away from competition, it’s exciting to have a number of finals to look forward to in the second half of the year as announced in the March Operational Plan. Three such events are the trio of Equissage Pulse Para Championships, which offer para riders great opportunity to finally get out and put their training to the test in a championship environment.

As announced in our March Operational Plan, we’ve been working on some changes to one of the sport’s greatest innovations in recent years, Quest, powered by Saracen Horse Feeds. We can now reveal our 2021 plans for the popular grassroots series which incorporates My Quest for solo competitors and Team Quest, featuring teams of three or four riders.

With coronavirus infection rates continuing to improve across the country, the Welsh government has today released a statement which paves the way for an earlier return to play for sport activity.

Producers of young horses and ponies have much to look forward to in the coming months with a comprehensive schedule of young horse competitions scheduled for 2021. The young horse calendar, comprising the Shearwater Young Horse Championships for four, five and six-year-olds, the BD Seven-Year-Old Championship and BD Young Pony Championships, offers riders plenty of opportunity to present their promising youngsters.

Following the successful implementation of protocols for horses returning to the UK who might potentially have been impacted by the EHV-1 outbreak in Europe, British Equestrian is pleased to report that the disease risk in the UK is nearing normal levels. However, the recommendation on the use of health self-certification forms for UK equine gatherings remains in place for the foreseeable future to help manage the risk.

Dressage Anywhere, the online competition and training website is running a special competition for BD Members to celebrate live shows restarting. Entries are open now with videos of tests accepted during April.