Hertfordshire rider wins British Dressage young professionals award

The 2012 British Dressage (BD) young professionals award, established in 2010 to replace the talent spotting programme, has been won by Alex Hardwick.

In the two-tier process, riders were split across three assessment days before the final at Talland Equestrian Centre on 19 March.

Alex, a 21-year-old Hertfordshire-based rider, already has plans for her £4000 training grant.

“I want to use it to get my BHS stage four and to train to become a BD judge. It gives you a different insight into training and riding seeing things from the judge’s box,” she said.

“I also want to get my HGV license so I can drive our lorry and help my parents out.”

Judge Richard Davison added: “It was genuinely hard to choose a winner as the standard was so high, but Alex was articulate and clear in her training. She rode very efficiently, has a good dressage seat and empathy with a wide range of horses.”

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