Heike Holstein has been named The Irish Field Dressage Rider of the Year for 2021.
Heike completed her fourth Olympic Games in Tokyo with the first Irish-bred dressage horse to compete at an Olympic Games for Ireland, her home-bred mare Sambuca. This is the fifth time that thirteen-time Irish national champion has won The Irish Field Dressage Rider of the Year award.
Holstein was also presented with two 'The Irish Field/Gain Equine Nutrition Star of the Month' awards for May 2021 and July 2021 at The Irish Horse World Awards lunch in the Palmer North Golf Club, The K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Monday 7 March 2022.
Heike and Sambuca scored an international Grand Prix Special personal best of 70.596% at the three-star show in Wellington, Great Britain in May 2021. This followed a top-ten finish in the Grand Prix Special at the three-star show in Exloo, The Netherlands. They went on to compete at the five-star show in Rotterdam, The Netherlands before heading to Tokyo where they scored 68.432% in the Olympic Grand Prix. Holstein and Sambuca have already secured qualification to compete at the FEI World Dressage Championships in Herning, Denmark this August. Heike confirmed that this is their main international target for 2022.
Previous winners of The Irish Field Dressage Rider of the Year Award (first awarded in 1997) are as follows:-
1997 - Yvette Truesdale
1998 - Heike Holstein (1)
1999 - Katy Price
2000 - Anna Merveldt (1)
2001 - Anna Merveldt (2)
2002 - Anna Merveldt (3)
2003 - Heike Holstein (2)
2004 - Anna Merveldt (4)
2005 - Heike Holstein (3)
2006 - Anna Merveldt (5)
2007 - Heike Holstein (4)
2008 - Judy Reynolds (1)
2009 - Anna Merveldt (6)
2010 - Anna Medveldt (7)
2011 - Anna Merveldt (8)
2012 - Helen Kearney
2013 - Roland Tong
2014 - Judy Reynolds (2)
2015 - Judy Reynolds (3)
2016 - Judy Reynolds (4)
2017 - Judy Reynolds (5)
2018 - Judy Reynolds (6)
2019 - Judy Reynolds (7)
2020 - Kate Dwyer
2021 - Heike Holstein (5)
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