Bartle has foot in two camps for Olympics

He was a member of the British dressage team at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and was reserve for the three-day event team at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The following year, he took on the job of national coach to the the German three-day event team and they went on to win team and individual gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

So now the pressure is well and truly on as the build-up to London begins. The German team finished last year on a high note, sweeping the board at the European Championships.

“I know we will have our work cut out competing in London,” said Bartle. “The British will have the home advantage and the crowd behind them. But Greenwich is a special site and nobody will be familiar with it.”

However, Bartle also does some coaching work with, among others, Britain’s Nicola Wilson and a potential Swedish Olympic rider, Ludwig Svennerstal. “So I have a foot in both camps. It’s a tug on the emotions.”

He copes by what he calls getting into his zone and focussing on his job. “I try to get my riders as technically and mentally prepared as possible.”

His tactics with the German team over the past few years have obviously paid off, particularly when it comes to their cross-country riding.

“I got them competing over here to broaden their experience and so that they could see the British style of riding cross-country,” said Bartle, who won Badminton Horse Trials in 1998.

He runs the family’s Yorkshire Riding Centre at Markington near Harrogate with his sister, Jane Bartle-Wilson, who is also a former Olympic dressage rider.

The centre was started by their mother, Nicole, who died last year.

It began as a riding school for local people and developed into a training centre for students working for BHS qualifications. They also ran ran riding holidays and catered for students from overseas.

Much of that has changed in recent years for various reasons. Agricultural colleges moved into providing equestrian courses and then Bartle became a coach at Olympic level, first as dressage trainer to the British three-day event teams at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics and then becoming coach to the German team.

This involves regular trips to Germany for training sessions as well as riders coming over to Markington, which they use as a base for competing and more training.

Jane is also in demand as a dressage coach both here and in America so, after a rethink, they decided not to continue with a traditional riding school but to concentrate on teaching, with most people bringing their own horses for lessons.

“We get a lot of riders at a high level but on the other hand, anybody who is interested in training with their horse will find an instructor to work with here,” said Bartle.

The competition season gets underway in March and the first major event for would-be Olympic riders is Badminton Horse Trials at the beginning of May.

German riders will be competing there and some will also go to Chatsworth International Horse Trials and Bramham, which was won last year by German rider Kai Rueder.

The German selectors will make their long list of riders for the Olympics following Luhmuhlen in June, with the final team being chosen at Aachen.

The decision to hold the Olympic three-day event at Greenwich has come in for some criticism, with many people arguing it should have been held out of London at a well-established venue. But Bartle is very much in favour of Greenwich Park. “I think it will be fantastic. When you go and stand up on the hill and look out on the city of London and all the famous landmarks, you can’t help but think, ‘wow, this is the Olympics’,” he said.

He thinks the course will certainly make for challenges, with a different terrain and many twists and turns. It will suit some horses better than others, which should prove interesting.

Whatever happens, having competed at this level himself, Bartle can appreciate how the riders will be feeling, both before and after their ride of a lifetime.

For more information about the Yorkshire Riding Centre, including demonstrations and clinics, go to www.yrc.co.uk.

Come and join us, say hunt organisers as they launch newcomers’ day

THE Badsworth and Bramham Moor Hunt are holding their newcomers’ day at Bramham Park next Saturday.

The day had been planned for earlier in the month but had to be postponed due to a hard frost.

“We are hoping for a good turnout next weekend but people don’t have to wait for a special newcomers’ day to ride out with us, they are welcome any time,” said Jenny Tomlinson Walsh, the hunt secretary.

Anybody interested in going along should contact her on 07977 627128 or email [email protected].

Yorkshire Sport Horse is inviting silent bids for seven graded stallion nominations which are being donated by their owners.

The closing date for bids is March 18 when the envelopes are opened and those containing the highest bid win the nomination of the sender’s choice.

The stallions are: Busk Hill Gunnar VII, Mr D Abraham; Catherston Liberator, Mr C Upham; Mill Law, Mrs S Browne and Mrs N Baguley; Power Blade, Miss N Barbour; Primitive Faerie Tale, Mrs J Lawson; Revolution, Lucinda and Beryl Broad and Roma Diamond Skip, Mrs J Manning.

The funds raised will go towards helping with the work of Yorkshire Sport Horse, including running its annual show.

For more information on how to take part in the bids process, call Hazel Bramley on 01904 744295.

The new Balcarres International Horse Trials to be held in Fife in June is offering all riders competing in the CCI one and two-star events free stabling for their horses.

James Oaken, the event organiser, said: “We are fully aware that as a new and a fairly northern three-day event, we have to entice people to come to us, so we are delighted to offer free stabling to event competitors to reduce the considerable cost of competing at this level.”

Alongside the international classes, Balcarres will be running BE90, BE100 and Novice sections. A full timetable of evening social events is also being planned. The horse trials take place from June 14-17.