Dressage Days

In recent years, Norfolk based Lewis Carrier (23) has emerged as one of the UK’s most promising young riders.

In 2018, with his talented Spielberg son Diego V, he achieved a top ten spot at the FEI Young Rider European Championships in Fontainebleau. Last year, despite coronavirus disruptions, he and Diego represented Great Britain in the U25s division at the Europeans in Hungary where they achieved a best placing of 12th and qualifi ed for the Grand Prix Freestyle. We caught up with Lewis, a World Class Podium Potential Pathway athlete, to fi nd out more about his journey, from his early aspirations to now – a young man making his mark at Grand Prix.

My parents weren’t riders but they wanted my sister and me to have the chance to learn, and we had ponies from when I was seven. It was a case of trial and error after that, with a succession of ponies, but we always had the help of some great equine professionals, including Di and Mark Fisher (now GB World Class Master Saddlers), to off er advice and keep us on the right track.

I take inspiration from everyone on the FEI Grand Prix World Cup circuit, including riders from all over Europe, but there is no doubt that what Carl and Charlotte have done for dressage in the UK has changed and continues to infl uence the sport.

It has to be the power and extravagance of the movement of a dressage horse. I tried all disciplines with ponies, a lot of it through West Norfolk Pony Club, and even pony racing at the British Racing School in Newmarket. Eventing was great fun but I always fell back on my dressage training with Di Fisher, and then we invested in Diego when I was 16.

I threw myself into sport, music and theatre at school, alongside my riding. Then at 16, when I went to Hartpury College, it was 100% dressage.

Diego was full of character and confi dence when we got him, at the age of four, and he defi nitely hasn’t lost any of that! He loves his work and lights up in a big indoor arena, especially with music. One of our highlights was our appearance at The Horse of the Year Show; I’ve never experienced an arena quite like Birmingham’s NEC! A fun fact about Diego is that he despises rugs; and, when he was four, he pulled every rug within reach outside his stable, into his bed!

It has to be the U25 European Championships in 2020. There were so many things that could easily have put me off going to Hungary but I’m so glad I went. My dad and I shared the driving, four days each way, and Diego was impeccable the whole 13 day trip.

Freddie (Alvescot Freestyle) is my newest project. Freddie is fi ve and we made it to the fi nal of the Nexgen Young Horse Series at Hickstead in 2020. Freddie has the benefi t of Diego’s wisdom, both as neighbours in our stable barn, and because I am able to work with Freddie at his young age, in ways that I hadn’t fi gured out with Diego at the same age.

I think I was 10 when a top GB eventer (name on application!) advised me not to go into horses! But my advice is, if you want to pursue a passion, you have to be willing to put everything into it, and believe that anything is possible.

As Diego and I are still putting the fi nishing touches to the Grand Prix movements it is easy to be tempted to spend too much time on that but I make sure that we have a variety of training, for strength, and for enjoyment, including hacking and a bit of jumping.

1. To own a Koenigsegg sports car 2. My own apartment in New York 3. A stately home (with plenty of space and facilities for my horses).