Anders Dahl and Fiona Bigwood

Interviews

Dressage Couples

Not very often does one get to see two international Grand Prix riders sharing a personal and professional life. Riders who live with or are married to their trainers are much more common than two riders who are partners, lovers, and collaborating professionals as well as competitors in the show ring.

Currently the highest ranked dressage couple on the FEI Riders Ranking are British team rider Fiona Bigwood and her partner Danish team rider Anders Dahl. On the 2007 FEI Riders' Ranking, Bigwood landed 22nd place while Dahl covered the 29th spot. No other dressage couple is listed so highly on the ranking which means that they jointly produced outstanding results during the 2007 show season.

Based in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, the 31-year old Anders and Fiona run a professional livery yard where they train their FEI level horses together. Collaborating daily on the work floor - i.e. the dressage ring - can be most useful. "I can always ask if what I am doing is good enough or if I need more and when someone is with you everyday they know how much you should be asking of the horse," Fiona explained. Bigwood appreciates the second opinion she has in Anders. "It is great to have someone who can offer advice if a problem comes up rather than having to wait until your next lesson with your trainer. I can also always ask him to sit on one of my horses to see if he has any ideas on how I can improve the work." Dahl highly values Fiona's organisational skills. "She is good at getting me set up before the shows and making sure everything is as good as possible. She is a real perfectionist," he said.

Working and living together so closely brings out the best in each person. "Anders is super with more complicated horses. Anything that is a bit tricky goes on his list! He is also great at making sure our lives are balanced and that our daughter always comes first," Fiona admits. Anders discloses that he respects Fiona's true love for horses tremendously. Her care and dedication to the welfare of her equines are priority. "Fiona will do everything possible for the horses so they are taken care of and treated well. That is also why each of our grooms has only got 3 horses to look after. She makes sure that they are out for some kind of activity twice a day, everyday," he stated. Anders considers training the horses to do flying changes as her technical strong side. "She can teach any horse to make changes without any stress. She is also a super test rider."

With two competition-oriented riders in the house, tension could arrive between the two, but Fiona resolves this easily. "Anders always believes that he can do it better than me and I have great fun in proving him otherwise," she joked. Anders claims that Fiona demands excellence from him as a rider and can push him to strive for the best. "She can get frustrated with me if she thinks that I am not doing my best," Anders confessed. "If I have a bad test I will avoid her for the first hour as I will always get the blame and am told that I should have done more."

Fiona and Anders' shared life puts them on the same wavelength not only professionally but also personally. "The biggest advantage of having a parnter who is also a dressage rider is that he understands how to prepare for shows and what is required to get the best out of the horse on the day. There is much more to horses that just riding," Fiona said. "To keep a horse mentally fresh and healthy is our main priority and Anders totally understands that. It is also nice to have someone to share your life with on such a close level. To work and live with someone as closely as we do produces a very special relationship." Anders concurs fully and explained that Fiona "understands everything about the sport and in the daily training. She is there all the time, to be my eyes on the ground. She knows me and my horses and what work is being done and why. That can be a problem if you only go to a trainer a couple of times every month."

Fiona does not feel any personal competition from Anders at shows. "It is often difficult if we are riding the same classes as you can guarantee that we are drawn one after the other and it is hard then to give help or be helped but I always hope that he will do well," she said. Anders, however, jocularly responded that he does feel some pressure. "I always want to beat her, but I always hope she will do really well. I just want to be better," he uttered.

2008 is promised to be an exciting year for Anders and Fiona! Not only is Anders currently leading the 2007-2008 Western European League World Cup ranking, but Fiona also announced that she is pregnant with her second child. Furthermore, the couple recently acquired a yard "Bourne Hill House" in Horsham, Great Britain, where they will move to in two years or so once the house has been refurbished and the stables fully built. "We are moving back to England to raise our children there and where they can go to school. We have to rebuild the whole yard to fit our requirements of a high performance stable. We are now drawing designs of what we want and searching for a good building company who can help us create our dream stable," Dahl explained.

Let the good times roll!

Photos copyrighted: Ridehesten - Astrid Appels