2022 Fall Symposium program

He is the most successful British dressage
rider in history, amassing over 60 National
Championship titles and has been
British National Champion an incredible ten
times. He is famous for his ‘galloping Laps
of Honor’ at the Nationals which are always
a crowd pleaser! Carl was named as the
British Olympic Association (BOA) Olympic
Athlete of the Year for equestrian in 2011.
Carl Hester the Early Years
Carl was born into a non-horsey family
on June 29, 1967, and grew up on the tiny
remote island of Sark, the crown jewel of
the Channel Islands, which is nestled in between
Guernsey and Jersey, 80 miles south
of England. The island has no cars and
therefore all travel was–and still is–done by
bicycle or equine. This is where Carl
learned to ride, although it was not on a
horse, but on a donkey that he rode to and
from the village shop. He actually didn’t
even ride in a saddle until he was 16 yearsold!
He eventually moved on to ponies and
horses, and successfully competed in local
gymkhanas. Carl still has family living on
the island and visits regularly. In January he
won the 2016 Channel Islands Sports Personality
of the Year Award for the second
time, having previously won it in 2012.
Carl’s life changed in 1989 when Dr. Wilifred
Bechtolsheimer, “Dr. B,” asked him to
come work as a rider at his facility, an interview
that Carl admits was a bit nerve-wracking.
He was offered the opportunity to ride
nice horses, have training, live in a beautiful
flat (apartment) on the property, AND get
paid a weekly wage. “I thought all my birthdays
had come at once!” said Carl.
Carl trained and rode with Dr. B for over
three years, during which time he competed
Carl and Valegro. Photo: Jon Stroud
at the first-ever FEI World Equestrian
Games in Stockholm, Sweden in 1990
on Rubelit von Unkenriff. He then competed
with Giorgione at the 1991 FEI European
Championships followed by the 1992
Barcelona Olympics.
“It was the most amazing thing that had
ever happened to me, and a period that
changed the course of my life,” reflected Carl
who still credits Dr. B as the most influential
person in his career. “One thing I’ll never forget
is when he said, “If you can’t come down
the centerline straight with a square halt and
trot off, well that’s no good to me.”
Carl maintains his thankfulness to the
Bechtolsheimers for giving him the chance
of a lifetime. Their daughter Laura, very
young at the time, would later become
Carl’s gold-medal winning Olympic teammate
at the 2012 Games in London.
After leaving the Bechtolsheimers, Carl
decided to go out on his own and created a
business venture with Kate and Stuart
Carter at their facility in Stow-On-The-Wold
in the Cotswolds, a relationship that lasted
10 years. The many horses that Carl
trained during that time included Argentile
Gullit, his mount at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney, Australia, and Kate’s
stallion Donnersong, the first horse he
trained himself to grand prix.
In 2004, Carl designed his own worldclass
equestrian facility in Newent, Gloucestershire,
and has never looked back.
Considered to be one of the world’s best
trainers, Carl has brought countless horses
to the elite grand prix level, while insisting
they enjoy life as ‘normal horses.’ His
weekly training regime includes four days
of training interspersed with two days of
hacking out and one day off. They spend
time in the paddocks each day, and if it suits
a particular horse, even living out in the field
at night is not out of the question if it makes
them happier in their work.
Carl has owned or co-owned many of his
top horses, and has welcomed them back
to his facility to live out their years in luxury
retirement. He has even made special stables
for the two of the most famous horses
in the world, Uthopia and Valegro.
The partnership with the breathtaking
dark stallion Uthopia launched Carl’s career
into the stratosphere. They were part of the
Gold medal winning British Team at the
2011 FEI European Championships in Rotterdam,
The Netherlands, where Carl also
took home the Individual Silver medals.
Of all the horses Carl has ridden to
Grand Prix, he rates Uthopia as the easiest
of them all. “From the first time I rode him I
knew he was special,” said Carl. “He was
just like a rubber ball, with so much bounce
in both the trot and the canter. He also has
an amazing personality and doesn’t act like
a stallion."
Most notably, the duo were part of the
history-making British Dressage Team at
the 2012 London Olympics alongside Laura
Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris, and Carl’s
long-time student, Charlotte Dujardin on
Valegro. Carl and Uthopia finished in the
top five of the three tests, playing a vital role
in helping to win the nation’s first-ever
Olympic Team Gold medal on the 100th anniversary
of the equestrian sport in the
Olympics. As we all know, Charlotte and
10 n Carl Hester