Olympia, the London International Horse Show welcomes two of the world’s top dressage riders, Laura Thomlinson and Kyra Kyrklund, to each perform a never-seen-before masterclass on Wednesday 16 December and Tuesday 15 December respectively.
Dressage Masterclass with Kyra Kyrklund
Visitors to Olympia on Tuesday 15 December will be given a fascinating insight into the training techniques of Kyra Kyrklund who is one of the most respected and admired dressage trainers worldwide and has coached more international Grand Prix riders than any other trainer. Her students include top international competitors from Finland, Sweden, USA, UK, Portugal, Holland and Australia. Kyrklund, who is known for her traditional techniques, will be working with Alex Hardwick, an aspiring British Grand Prix rider advising on the ‘dos and don’ts’ of dressage.
Kyrklund, who has not worked with Hardwick before, will assess the young horse and rider combination and discuss what she thinks the rider has to work on to make the break through to senior Grand Prix and potentially International level. Kyrklund will explain to the audience what she sees, what the strong and weak points are and recommend how to improve the combination.
Alex Hardwick’s (24yrs) career achievements in dressage include:
· seven International titles at Young Rider, Small Tour and U25 Grand Prix;
· a member of the British 2012 Young Rider European Championship team;
· a member of the Lottery Funded British World Class Development Squad;
· British Dressage Young Professional of the year 2012
Hardwick will be riding Donauwein ('Dude'), a 13-year-old Hannoverian gelding by Don Vino/Brentando II. Hardwick has owned and trained him since he was three-years-old with input from her mother, Sally Hardwick, and Carl Hester. They have achieved great success at Under 25 Grand Prix and are currently ranked 7th on the FEI Youth ranking at this level. Alex's ambition is to become a member of the senior British team.
Dressage Masterclass with Laura Tomlinson
On Wednesday 16 December Laura Tomlinson will be giving a special dressage masterclass at Olympia which focuses on coping with a small tour horse in a highly charged competition arena.
In 2010, Tomlinson was part of the British team at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. Part of silver medal winning team, Tomlinson also claimed two individual silver medals at the Games. Laura and her horse, Alf, then won the prestigious FEI Reem Accra World Cup™ leg at Olympia in London later that year. Laura was part of the gold medal winning team at the 2011 European Championships
in Rotterdam and she also collected an individual bronze medal. She then repeated the result at the London 2012 Olympics as a member of the team that won the gold medal. Laura went on to win an individual bronze in the Freestyle.
During the Masterclass Laura will be riding Capri Sonne Jr, an 8-year-old stallion and a bronze medallist at The World Breeding Championships. He is a small tour horse looking towards Grand Prix. As Laura says, “Small Tour is the stage where a horse becomes a dressage athlete, not just a well-trained horse. My aim is to look at its Grand Prix potential as I see Small Tour as a step towards that level”.
She describes Capri Sonne as “the complete horse; his attitude to work is amazing and he’s a pleasure to ride – the more I ask, the more he gives – I ride him with a smile every time”.
Laura will describe to the audience the techniques she employs when bringing Capri Sonne into the very atmospheric environment of the Olympia arena. She will give an insight into the way she deals with the stallion and how positive riding can help to give the horse confidence in a challenging environment.
Tickets are still available for Tuesday 15 December, click here to make sure you grab yours before they sell out!