By Michelle Williams

I first met Pauline in October 2006 on a visit to Dane Rawlins’ yard. The first thing which struck me was that she was very friendly and open, and after a couple of hours in her company, I felt like I had known her for years.

I had no idea that she was, in fact Lady Harris. I don’t know why, but I, like I am sure many of you, tend to think that very successful, wealthy or titled people will not be the slightest bit interested in anyone else because they are far too busy being successful, wealthy and doing stuff titled people do. Not so with Pauline. Whether she is in the company of HM The Queen, organising Prime Ministers (or Dane!), meeting children at her many Academies in Inner London, she is interested in everyone and everything.

Pauline’s husband Phil started a carpet business on Peckham market many years ago and this business has evolved into Carpetright. Pauline would have been one of the original “superwomen” we hear about now, such as Nicola Horlick. Whilst working in the family business, she ran the family home and brought up her children, all of whom are successful in their own right and by their own hard work.

Hard work is clearly very important to Pauline. At sixty five, when many people are relaxing and taking it easy, Pauline is a human dynamo. When she sits with Dane to plan her week’s riding, her diary is always full. She is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, sits on numerous committees, supports many charity organisations, funds the development of hospital units and hospices and is actively involved in the development of the Harris Academies in Inner London.

I’d like to pick one of these projects, the Academies, to briefly talk about. Pauline told me recently that she and Phil were very proud to have had their first student go to university and that their sixth forms are now over-subscribed. The schools do not just concentrate on academic qualifications. They aim to provide the children with vocational skills. For example, the hairdressing course (which had a 100% pass rate last year) is taught in a mock up of a proper salon; the hotel and catering course is taught in a mock up of a hotel suite. The students then have hands on training when the elderly people of the area come to have their hair done and are then taken and served as customers in the hotel for their lunch! The students have a chance to also learn social skills, plus it fosters community spirit between older and younger people. They also have a car mechanics workshop which has seen its first intake of girls this year!

Pauline and Phil have long been associated with the horse world. Pauline was Head Girl at the South London School of Equitation and also Manormead in Epsom. They owned many of David Broome’s top rides, including Philco, Sportsman, Cranham King and Heatwave. Today Phil and Pauline sponsor Charlotte Platt (Show Jumping) and Emily Baldwin (3 Day Eventing) – Emily has just been selected for the team going to Aachen! In Dressage, they sponsor Dane Rawlins and his International Grand Prix horse Wily Earl and Anne-Marie Rawlins and her Junior horse Sheer Gold. It is interesting to note that their sponsorship started with the support of a local rider, George Hobbs, from Rudgewick and his Show Jumping British team horse Warlord, who had been produced by Pauline herself!

Exhausted?! We’ve not even started to talk about what Pauline does in her spare time! She chuckled away just after Christmas that, at 65, she could now get her bus pass and in the next breath told me she was delighted to have received a year’s worth of personal training as a Christmas gift from one of her daughters in law, so that she could work out regularly!

Pauline’s big passion is riding her dressage horses. She rides and competes Sydney, the exceptionally talented Linaro mare, described by Dane as his “dream horse”. At only 8 years old, Sydney has already learned her tempi changes, piaffe and passage! Her other mare, Falkana (Flori, at home) is 9 years old and by Florestan. Chosen by husband Phil from just seeing her on a video, this eye catching mare is also very gifted and Pauline hopes to don her top hat and tails and compete her at PSG later this year.

Having preferred show jumping in the past, when she trained with Len Carter at Rudgewick in the early 1960’s, he always said that she should be doing dressage and said that “Little Model” would have been the horse for her. He was correct and she now trains with Dane at Bolney Park Farm in Sussex. Pauline is thoroughly dedicated and thoroughly determined, with Dane’s help, to further develop her skills as a dressage rider. Pauline also owns former Badminton horse, Sheer Gold (formerly Hatherden’s Riverdance), who is now ridden at Juniors by Dane’s daughter, Anne-Marie and the lovely Wily Earl, Dane’s International Grand Prix ride.

This extraordinary lady once told me that she never buys anything she doesn’t intend to use (good advice for someone like me who used to keep things “for best”!). To that end, she has her HGV licence and has even driven Carpetright delivery trucks; she enjoys her collection of classic cars, driving them in turn at the weekends! She has even rallied some of these priceless cars. She has 7competed in Europe and recently her eight week, 17,000 mile rally across South America raised £700,000.00 for the Prostrate Cancer charity! And the list goes on!

In the 5th century BC, the Ancient Olympic Games became a five day event. The athletes competed in running, shot put, javelin, long jump, boxing, pankration and equestrian events. The Equestrian Games at this time consisted of riding and chariot races. The Equestrian competition we know and love today, began in 1912.

Dressage is the “ultimate team sport”. With horse and rider competing together in harmony, to reach the Olympics is truly the epitome of any rider’s career. The hours, days, weeks, months and years of training, building a partnership of trust and understanding, developing as athletes and being able to perform with perfection on the day, add up to nothing short of an achievement of “olympic” proportions.

It is a sport where men and women can compete on equal terms. With this in mind, I have been lucky enough to speak to two athletes working towards the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Laura Bechtolsheimer and Emile Faurie.

At only 22 years old, Laura Bechtolsheimer is a true role model for young people in every sport. She is certainly very lucky to have access to phenomenal horse power; however, it is her natural talent and steadfast determination to succeed to the best of her ability, which has earned her so much respect.

Laura won Team Silver at the Pony Europeans in 1999 and 2000 and Team Bronze in the Young Rider Europeans in 2004 and 2005 with Douglas Dorsey and Mistral Hojris. With Douglas Dorsey, she was the youngest ever British National Champion in 2005 at age 20 and just before these Championships, the combination won a World Cup Qualifier at Senior level!

Since then, her successes at Senior level, whilst studying for her degree from Bristol University in Philosophy and Politics, after which she will work in the family business, are a real inspiration for riders who don’t have the luxury of being able to just concentrate on training.

I caught up with Laura on a break from her revision for her final exams, after which she will travel to Germany to compete, where she will be based at the yard of her family’s long term friend, Klaus Balkenhol.

On behalf of the many people who juggle work and riding, I asked her how she planned her days. Laura lives close to the university in Bristol, so she has an hour each way to drive each day to ride the horses. Her training is planned around her university timetable and usually she rides her three horses either in the morning or afternoon. Laura said that she does sometimes find the travelling, studying and riding tiring and said she thinks it is very important to have something to look forward to, to have even a short break, in order to keep fresh. Initially at university it was hard for her friends to understand what she was doing, that often if people were up against deadlines it was because of too much partying rather than having been abroad to compete and then have to get work handed in! Harry Mead has been a great help to Laura in this regard, being on hand to give advice and Laura shares a house with mutual friends who are very supportive. Laura was very clear about the importance of balance in one’s life. She said “if you rule out fun time, it’s harder to keep motivated”. She has a great group of friends at home and at university.

Although it is probably an impossible question to answer and to put into words, I was interested to know what it would mean to her to be selected for the Olympic team. Laura said as an athlete, it would be her biggest dream to be selected to compete at the Olympics; she said it would be a confirmation that she has got to where she wants to be, to be established as a rider. However for Laura it would mean more than this. For her, to be a part of the whole culture behind the Olympic movement, the essence of being an Olympian, the spirit of sportsmanship, would be a vital part of the achievement. She told me it would be “an incredible honour to represent her country”. However, her education as a rider is a continuous process and she is a very ambitious young lady. Should she achieve this accolade, Laura would most certainly not be happy to just turn up! She has the extra motivation to ensure that she does well, that she does her country proud.

When we concluded our chat, I asked Laura if she had a favourite photo that I could put with the piece. She asked her dad to send me this one. She had just finished a test with Dougie (Douglas Dorsey) at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen last year, he’s on a long rein and looking very happy – and Laura’s face says everything! “Proud and happy” is how she described her feelings at that moment. Having spoken to this remarkable young lady, it was almost impossible to believe that she is only 22 years old. I put down the phone and felt really inspired by her dedication to her horses and her riding, and really proud that we have such an ambassador for our sport.

Emile Faurie needs very little introduction! Emile has represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games, in Barcelona in 1992 and in Sydney in 2000. At the 2000 Olympic Games, the GB team came eighth and Emile was the highest place individual rider on Rascher Hopes (whom he retired at the 2006 British National Championships). He has represented Great Britain in numerous European and World Championships.
Emile rode his first horse when he was 16 and has not looked back! This charming rider/trainer also had a successful run as an actor in 2005 having performed the part of Garcin, the adulterous war deserter, in the Jean Paul Satre play “Huis Clos” in London!

Emile’s natural ability to gain the horse’s trust, to develop the horse’s natural talents and his own quest for perfection and strong work ethic have all brought him rides on world class horses, among them Virtu, Legrini, Insterberg and Fididas. The horse we shall focus on here is his new, exciting prospect for the 2008 Olympic Games, Dream of Heidelberg II.
Owned by Ira Denkhaus of the Kempke Hof Stud, Dream of Heidelberg II was bred by Ruud Wolters in 1998. By Donnerschlag out of a Verbrand Premium mare Zoliante, this successful breeding stallion has the great Donnerhall’s blood in his veins. On his mother’s side, is the foundation stallion, Ladykiller xx. Having competed at the Bundeschampionat finals as a five and six year old, he has secured 24 victories and 11 second places in advanced competitions at the age of seven and eight!

Imagine, then, for a moment, being Emile when the telephone call came from Ira to ask him if he would like the ride?!!!

Emile Faurie & Dream of Heidelberg II
photo Kevin Sparow

Having spoken to Emile about Dream of Heidelberg II on 26th May, after he had won the Dressage Masters at Hickstead Grand Prix with over 70%, it’s fair to say that he is on cloud nine. He describes the stallion as “the best horse I have ever had”. At only nine years old, with only a few Grand Prix under his belt and the first GP with his new rider, this horse is truly amazing. His fantastic way of going is matched by his temperament and rideability (something which he passing to his progeny).

Emile told me he is an incredibly “reliable” horse in the arena, he is attentive, listening and always willing to do what is asked of him – again, all of this at only nine years old!

Emile will next ride him at Somerford Park and will then take him to Holland for two Internationals. David Trott, Chairman of the Selectors, has seen the partnership and must surely be rubbing his hands together with glee at the prospect of such potential in the run up to Beijing!

In association with the British International Dressage Trainers Foundation and British Dressage, the very popular Prestige British Young Horse Championships series will culminate in the National Final being held on 25th and International Final on 29th July during the Dressage at Hickstead CDIO.

The aim of these classes is to provide a series of progressive tests to assist in the production of top quality young horses in Great Britain. The judges of these classes are seeking out horses with a future, horses that will eventually represent their country at international level. Many of the former winners of these classes are already well along the road to this goal. The ultimate aim is for them to become top class Grand Prix Horses.

With this in mind, I felt that was really only one horse about which I could write, and he is Spirit Freedom, the Oldenburg gelding owned by Tony and Sarah Pidgley of Team Berkeley.

The 2004 Rhinegold British Young Horse Championships was dominated by Team Berkeley. Sarah won the 5 year old National class with the beautiful mare, Diva Supra and Damian Hallam won the 5 year old International class riding the talented gelding, Spirit Freedom and the 6 year old International class with the imposing mare, Wolke Sieben.

In 2005, Spirit Freedom went on to win virtually every class he contested! He won the British Dressage Winter Championships Novice Open with 76.04%, the Elementary Open with 73.84%; he won the 6 year old International class at the 2005 Rhinegold British Young Horse Championships; he won the British Dressage National Championships Elementary Open with 77.19% and the Medium Open with 77.24% and in the same year was named BEIB Dressage Horse of the Year at Olympia.

He also represented Great Britain in the 6 year old section of the prestigious World Championships for Young Horses in Verden. The combination won the Silver Medal on a score of 8.90 with the judges praising the superb half passes and active trot work.

In 2006, this remarkable horse, still only 7 years old, qualified for the British Dressage Winter Championships at Advanced Medium with scores of 72.63% and 73.16% and came second in the Final on 69.47% to Gareth Hughes and Korenbloem Sandman on 70.0%.

I asked Sarah if it would be possible to have an insight from her with regard to the benefit of the young horse classes to Spirit Freedom’s education and their future plan for him.

Sarah told me that they “see the young horse classes as part of a horse’s education – equipping him for the future. Hickstead is a great venue for the young horse championship because it has all the atmosphere and razzamatazz of an international show. It is in this environment that the dressage horse has to learn to feel comfortable, confident and perform at his best.”

Sarah continued “We feel it is vital to familiarise our young horses early with the competition environment so Team Berkeley’s young hopefuls tend to make their competitive debuts in this series.”

With regard to the future plans, Damien added that “Spirit Freedom is about to start competing small tour. Tony and Sarah Pidgley have always believed in Spirit Freedom’s ability. He is a natural performer with no weaknesses so the hope is that he will have a bright future as an international grand prix horse – but it is still early days.”

A big thank you to Sarah and Damien for their input and we wish them, and Team Berkeley, every success!