With husband-and-wife dressage duo Richard and Gill Davison both riding at the top level and their sons competing in showjumping, Stephanie Bateman looks around the family’s multi-discipline yard in Staffordshire
THE Davisons’ yard is exactly how you’d imagine it — pristinely tidy, lavish yet practical, and notably calm and quiet.
A former dairy farm dating back to 1790, the beautiful red-brick buildings ooze character and charm and have been lovingly and thoughtfully restored into the equestrian jewel the property is today.
Nestled in the Staffordshire countryside, Combridge Farm is home to dressage riders Gill and Richard, their two international show jumping sons Tom and Joe — as well as Sweep the Border collie and Richard’s flock of sheep.
The dressage supremos took on the farm 32 years ago after buying it from “a farmer who had put in some stables and a grass gallops to train his racehorses, but not much else”.
“The ceiling in the kitchen collapsed and the whole house was a bit run-down, but we just about managed to live in it while we did it up,” says Gill.
THE indoor arena, where I find Gill and Richard performing slick grand prix movements in preparation for Hartpury CDI, is plush. Plaques and medals from various championships and Olympics are suspended from the viewing gallery walls that overlook the arena, reminding me this is the home of a four-time Olympian and multi medal-winning dressage champion.
Aside from the mirrors, light-flooded windows, and an indoor sound system, there is also a cosy viewing room with ornate gas fire, kitchenette, dining table and lounge incorporated into the building.
“We deliberately had different surfaces put down in the indoor and outdoor arenas,” explains Richard as he schools his rising star Bubblingh. “The indoor has a waxed Martin Collins surface to keep the dust levels down, whereas the outdoor has an Andrews Bowen surface that is only lightly waxed to allow the jumper’s hooves to slide after landing from a fence.
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