WE struck off by discussing the differences in how they each got started in dressage...
REBECCA: I started out at our local riding school when I was 10 years old in Belgium where I lived at the time. We moved to the UK when I was 13 and that's when I got my own pony and got involved doing all the usual Pony Club things.
I didn't really have a horse that could jump, so I had to do all of the tack and turnout competitions at the local gymkhanas. But I'd always enjoyed schooling the horses and I entered a talent spotting competition that they used to have years ago at Talland School of Equestrian. I ended up winning that - totally out of the blue and that switched me onto dressage.
I spent a year as a working pupil with the late Sarah Whitmore, who had a lot of other young riders based with her - and that was it for me. But back then I didn't realise it could be a career.
GARETH: I also always had a pull to dressage but goodness knows where it came from. I grew up in a place called Jimboomba in Australia, which wasn't exactly the epicenter of world dressage. We didn't have the internet then, so I used to get magazines and I remember my grandparents coming over for Christmas and gifting me a subscription to British Dressage magazine, so I followed it as much as I could, then I started watching VHS training tapes from Europe.
But I grew up working with Arabian horses; I did in-hand showing, Western and English. The breed was huge in the 1980s and '90s in Australia. It was so big that a lot of the performance riders in Australia were also involved in that world.
At the time, I wasn't sure whether I was going to do horses or play saxophone for a living- but as it turned out I wasn't very good at the saxophone, so horses it was.
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Denne historien er fra April 18, 2024-utgaven av Horse & Hound.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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'Sorry, but I wasn't feeling it'
Fresh from the opening meet, Tessa Waugh hasn't quite yet been bitten by the hunting bug. Without the crisp autumnal air and cheek-pinching cold she hoped for, it's a sluggish start
New pair pull off a win
A former European Championships pony is on form with his new rider, while elsewhere former showjumpers and eventers take ribbons
Lording it over the rest
Horses who have returned from injury, a second generation homebred and a long format specialist score on the final weekend of the British season
Smith hits flying form
A \"her way or no way\" mare helps Zoe Smith to an impressive ribbon haul and a rider beats his own boss to the top spot
Jankorado hits the jackpot
Paul Sims is triumphant despite his interrupted jump-off preparation and a borrowed horse comes up trumps
Peanut
From \"dangerous, scary\" to hedge-hopping brilliance, hunting has been the making of this unstable but very lovable equine character
She's a corker
Communication, says long-standing and highly respected Belvoir master Lady Sarah McCorquodale, is the key to all, as Catherine Austen discovers
Access all areas Cavalier Centre
The Cavalier Centre is a fully accessible, state-of-the-art equestrian centre designed to improve lives through horse-based activities. Ellie May Forrester pays a visit
'Use it or lose it'
Not everyone wants to reach for the pipe and slippers at a certain age. Becky Murray speaks to some veteran horse-and-rider combos for their secrets of human and equine longevity
A new way forward
Worm control in horses is vital, but established methods will not remain effective for much longer. Tim Mair FRCVS explains why and how we need to change