Exciting 2015 Calendar Changes for British Dressage

Shows

2015 CDI Bury Farm

2014 was a bumper season for British Dressage with competition numbers growing by around 5% plus rise in membership towards the end of the year by around 7%. Over the winter months, the 2015 fixtures calendar has received some welcome boosts with several new CDI competitions in Britain in the pipeline.

On the British international front, Bury Farm in Buckinghamshire will host a CDI3*, CDIYJP and CPEDI as part of their International All Stars Show on 28 October - 1 November 2015. The now established CPEDI at Bishop Burton will now feature a 3* competition to run alongside the 1 and 2* in East Yorkshire 4 – 8 August. The CDIO at Hickstead will move to 15 – 19 July so that it runs ahead of this year’s senior European Championships in Aachen in August.

In Cheshire, there have been a few changes in the team behind the Somerford Park Premier League show after Julian Sebire retired at the end of last year after a decade. Jo Graham and Susie Farnon have taken on the leadership and haven’t wasted anytime with the news that the venue will host a CDI in 2016. This year’s Premier League runs on its normal weekend of 22 – 24 May 2015.

At the end of 2014, BD announced the new Veterans Championships with classes for horses and riders from prelim to advanced medium but we can now announce the final will be hosted by Vale View in Leicestershire, 31 October to 01 November. The Retraining of Racehorses Championships grows year on year with record numbers taking part in 2014 and this year, the Championship finals move to Houghton Hall in Cambridgeshire 26 – 27 September.

BD Sport Operations manager Paul Graham commented; “We’re working hard with our organisers to continue to grow the sport. Membership is up and we need to meet the needs of the riders; it’s a question of supply and demand. Coupled with this is the need to put on more high-end fixtures to showcase the sport to our growing audience of both dressage aficionados and those new to the sport as well as provide the riders with opportunity to bring on the stars of the future. 2015 has started brightly and it looks like being another fantastic year of sport.”