Suzanne began competing in British Dressage in 2022, having a few Spanish horses to ride at the time and having lost her drive for eventing, she still wanted to compete so thought she would give BD a go. Starting at Prelim level with a very good 70+% score in her first ever test on her horse Sanson who was a 5 year old at the time, she very quickly caught the dressage bug and started researching about all of the different festivals, finals and teams you can aim to qualify for through the different BD streams. 

In July 2022, Suzanne competed at her first Area Festival at Novice level on Sanson De Ligero and placed 4th on 68.61% just narrowly missing out on a ticket to the Finals by less than 1%. At this point she was hooked and determined to get to a finals one day.

In August of 2022, Suzanne competed at her first Regionals at Keysoe on Sanson in the Prelim and placed 8th in a big class with no other Iberian horses in it. Sanson had a very successful first season and Suzanne was very proud of how he performed at both of the bigger shows, she backed and produced Sanson herself so was thrilled to have had him at both the Areas and Regionals in their first few months together doing BD.

Since then Suzanne has competed at several Areas, Regionals and Associated Champs up to Medium. She is now competing Sanson at Advanced Medium with the aim of qualifying for the summer Regionals and then moving him up to PSG.

Suzanne now also has two other horses in her string, Guapero and Licor who she has had some good scores at Medium and Advanced Medium on. She is now competing both of these horses at PSG level and is aiming them both for the Summer areas in 2025.

It is still Suzanne’s dream to one day qualify for a National final and to one day ride a Grand Prix, she continues to work towards this week in week out. 

Suzanne has regular clients for who she teaches dressage and who have recently joined BD having previously only competed at Unaffiliated and Riding club dressage. In two shows, two of these riders have already qualified for the BD Associated Champs and gained an Area Score each with Suzanne’s support. Suzanne is loving supporting riders to get into BD and encouraging them to try and qualify for some of the great festivals and champs that BD have to offer.

Suzanne likes to ride and teach in a more classical way, encouraging people to learn how to use their seat more and encourage their horses to work through and over the back. She also has good knowledge of the scales of training and applies this into her training methods.

If you would like some help and support in either starting or progressing in your British Dressage journey please do get in touch with Suzanne.