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Carl Hester, British dressage rider
26 May, 2009
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Carl Hester, born 29 June 1967, is a British dressage rider who currently lives in Gloucestershire.
Growing up on the Channel Island Sark, Carl rode a donkey called Jacko until he was big enough to ride carriage horses — the only horses on the island.
He came to the mainland at 16, when he was offered a job in Dorset at the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy.
He stayed there for two and a half years, during which time he evented and took his Assistant Instructors exam.
In 1985, just 18 months after taking up dressage, Carl was the National young rider champion on a skewbald mare called Jolly Dolly.
Following his time at the Fortune Centre, he rode for Christopher and Jannie Taylor for three years. They gave him the ride on a horse called Slightly Trendy and in 1988 this combination were selected for the young rider dressage team.
Although Carl missed the chance to compete due to a broken leg, the horse inspired him to direct his attentions to pure dressage.
In 1989, Carl was asked to work as a rider for the Bechtolsheimers.
In his three and a half years with them, Carl went to the World Championships in 1990 and the European Championships in 1991 on Rubelit Von Unkenriff, and the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 on Georgioni.
After leaving the Bechtolsheimers Carl moved to Stow-on-the-Wold, where he shared a yard with Kate Carter. When they outgrew the yard, both Kate and Carl set up on their own.
Carl has had an extremely successful career in senior ranks. He has been the British Dressage national champion five times and has accumulated a record 44 national dressage titles.
He has been part of the British team at three Olympic Games, one World Equestrian Games and four European Championships, and he has reached one World Cup dressage final.
Unfortunately, in 2008 both Dolendo and Lecantos sustained injuries and were therefore pulled out of the running for Olympic selection, but Carl returned to form in fine style at the 2009 winter championships at Hartpury College, taking the intermediaire I freestyle with Movistar.
At the 2010 world championships in Kentucky Carl won team silver on Liebling II.
He was also part of the gold medal winning team at the 2011 European championships in Rotterdam, riding Uthopia.
Carl is also a highly regarded trainer — he was dressage trainer of the year in 1996 and was awarded the Spillers equestrian personality of the year in 1997.
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