Rider biographies: North
Meet our BD Presents... North demo riders who will be heading to Myerscouth College on 22 November.
Rob Gilsenan and Voce Viva RL
Voce Viva RL, known as Vino, was bred by Robert and Lucina Bellis of RL Dressage, Voce Viva RL is a licensed stallion by Viva Gold out of ‘Royal Fee’ (Rubin Royal X Waldsee). He is licensed with both British Warmblood and British Rhineland Societies.
Cheshire based Rob has competed successfully in British Showjumping and British Eventing before focusing on Dressage, and has previously worked for Olympic Event rider Vittoria Panizzon as well as more recently Anna Ross.
Whilst Vino's focus will be on dressage, he also shows great ability for show jumping, having had to loose jump for his stallion licensing and later doing some jumping under saddle with Danielle Ryder.
Session one: Young Horses
Riley Bond
Session one: Young Horses
Clara Withers and Frazier
Session two: Inexperienced Horses
Poppy Burgess and GFS Dizzy Rascal
Dizzy was a 21st birthday present to Poppy as a 2yr old and she's produced him from the beginning. He was bred to event and loves jumping more than anything but an injury in 2022 meant we had to limit his jumping and turn to dressage. This year the duo have competed at the Associated Championships and the Winter and Summer Area Festival Championships. Poppy is a structural engineer in the day but every spare second is devoted to the horses!
Dizzy is described as a dream in almost every way and no one loves him more than Poppy's mum, Julie. He can take a little while to learn new things and gets easily overwhelmed when teaching him so it has to be taken slowly but once he's got it, he never forgets.
Session three: Developing Lateral Work
Matt Burnett and Za Za Zoom
Mat is a Grand Prix dressage trainer and BD judge based in Cheshire. Weazel came to Matt in the spring and it was love at first sight. He has since competed from Novice to Medium level and has started to learn changes. Weazel is owned by Sue Kirkpatrick, Lucy Jay and Justin Bates.
Session three: Developing Lateral Work
Sarah Kingwells and Odi
Sarah is a BD accredited Coach UKCC3 and a BD List 1 Judge. She has successfully trained several horses from young horse classes to small tour level. Sarah has ridden Odi for two years, in this time they've won Preliminary and Elementary Regionals and competed at the LeMieux National Championships at Preliminary, Novice and Elementary.
Session four: Progressive Performance
Ellie Tomkinson and Whatapallaver
This year Ellie and Whatapallavr have competed at Inter-Regionals, Home Nations and lots of other championships. They placed 3rd in the Advanced Medium Petplan Summer Area Festival Championships and were the Advanced Medium Sheepgate U25 Champions. Ellie has been part of BD Youth for 8 years and has enjoyed competing a variety of horses. The past eighteen months she has had the opportunity to ride Kizzi who has taken her from Elementary to Advanced Medium.
Session four: Progressive Performance
Anya Kolleth and Frings 2
Frings 2 was purchased as a 4 year old from Germany, Frings and Anya have trained through the levels together. They have won regional titles at both Advanced Medium and PSG, and competed at multiple National Championships and Premier Leagues at Small Tour level. Anya has recently completed a Masters degree at the London Interdisciplinary School and combines training and competing a small string of dressage horses from young horses to the higher levels of the sport with a career.
Session five: Sustainable Progress
Sarah Fitton and Newton Reverie
Sarah purchased Revi as an unbroken 3 year old through Anna - she was living out in a herd at the time and caught her eye instantly, she was the perfect mix of active hind legs, a pretty face and trainable temperament. Recently, Sarah has set up a lovely new yard in Staffordshire which has been a life long dream of hers.