Sponsored Riders
Richard Davison
INTERVIEW
Richard Davison has been working with Dodson & Horrell for over 25 years and in that time; he has become one of the best known and most successful International dressage riders of all time. Now a three-time Olympian, Richard first began at the age of just five years old when he started weekly riding lessons. Richard was bought his first pony at the age of nine and he became a keen member of the Pony Club.
Richard’s passion as a teenager was horses and equestrianism and his dream was to become a professional rider, but after leaving school, Richard’s father brought him into the family business: “I was a reluctant employee. My father owned a PR and marketing business and as a project he also gave me a petrol station to run. I quickly worked out a system which meant that work didn’t take up too much time and I was more likely to be found hunting with the Meynell than I was sat at my desk!! Eventually, my father agreed that horses would be the best route for me and I went off to pursue my dream.”
Aspiring Richard moved onto working with horses full time
Richard’s equestrian career started with Sandra Pearson-Adams, who was an event rider and had just been made a Fellow of the British Horse Society. After a while Sandra sent Richard on a dressage course run by Barbara Slane-Fleming and it was at this point that Richard really caught the dressage bug. After years of training with classical dressage greats such as Arthur Kottas and a short spell at the Spanish Riding School, Richard had a lucky break when Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford bought him Master JCB. It was on this horse that Richard won his first European team medal back in 1993. A decade later, Richard was a member of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2003 Hickstead European Championships, when he rode Gwendolyn Meyer’s Ballaseyr Royale, the horse with whom he also became British Dressage National Champion and competed at the Athens Olympics.
As a member of the British team, Richard has competed in three Olympics (Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004), two World Equestrian Games and four European Championships as well as being six times Britain’s number one in the International dressage rider rankings. Beyond Richard’s own successful competitive career, in 2008, Richard also became Performance Manager for the World Class Dressage Squads. Richard says of his role: “We have three squads. The top squad is known as the Performance Squad and is compromised of combinations considered as potential Team members. Then we have the young rider Development Squad and then the young horse Equine Pathway Squad. My principal responsibility is to make sure that all lines of communication are open between the rider, their home support team and the World Class support team and that standards of performance are increasing across all three squads. ”
Aiming for London 2012
Richard’s personal focus is to get his current ride, The Countess of Derby and John Dodd’s Hiscox Artemis, to London 2012 and of his ride, Richard says: “Hiscox Artemis’ training has really improved recently and his recent performance at the London Olympia World Qualifier illustrated this when he scored a personal best in the grand prix of more than 72.5%.”
It is on Hiscox Artemis that Richard competes in freestyle to music tests where the music has been provided by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. The music has been played and recorded specifically for Hiscox Artemis by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Guy Chambers. It is arranged by Joost Peeters (Holland) with much support and direction from the Robbie Williams music and production team to produce a wonderful spectacle.
