Chris Bartle

Top British eventing coach Chris Bartle was widely regarded as the man responsible for the German eventing squad’s dominance at championship level in recent years.

In early 2017 he joined the British team as eventing performance coach as part of the British World Class eventing programme, following Yogi Breisner’s decision to step down as British eventing performance manager after 17 years in the role.

Working alongside performance manager Richard (Dicky) Waygood, Chris kicked off his new role in style at the European Eventing Championships when Britain won their first senior championship team gold medal since the 2010 World Equestrian Games and the first Europeans team gold since 2009.

Chris was an extremely successful rider before focusing his efforts on training others. He won Badminton in 1998 riding World Perfect, was a European team gold medallist in 1997 at Burghley on the same horse and reserve for the 2000 Olympic team.

He also rode at the top level in pure dressage and finished sixth in the dressage at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles riding Wily Trout. In addition he was national dressage champion twice and finished fourth in the 1985 dressage European Championships.

Chris was national coach to the German eventing team, working alongside team manager Hans Melzer, from 2001-2016. During the latter years of his tenure the Germans dominated the international eventing scene, winning team gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, world team gold in 2014 and European team gold in 2011, 2013 and 2015. German riders have also won individual gold at the annual championship every year since 2010.

Chris is managing director of the Yorkshire Riding Centre, a powerhouse training centre where numerous successful riders have spent time. His pupils include British Olympic team silver medallist, European team gold medallist and individual European bronze medallist Nicola Wilson.