Carl Hester

Carl learnt to ride at an early age in Sark before moving to Dorset to work at the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy. Two years after taking up dressage, he was crowned the 1985 Young Rider National Champion.

After representing Great Britain at the 1990 World Games on his employer Dr  Bechtolsheimer’s Giorgione, he went on to win his first medal for Great Britain at the 2009 European Championships.

Carl claimed team gold and two individual silver medals with Uthopia in 2011 – his first ever individual honours. The combination went on to represent Great Britain at the London Olympics in 2012, where they secured team gold, before adding a team bronze to their tally in 2013. Carl was awarded an MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours List.

The British-bred Hawtins Delicato, or Del, was produced by Carl's protégé, Charlotte Dujardin, up to Grand Prix before Carl took over the ride in May 2018. After contesting three CDIs, where they finished on the podium every time with scores over 75%, they were selected to be part of the team that won bronze at the World Equestrian Games in 2018.

In 2019, Carl took on the ride of En Vogue, owned by Charlotte Dujardin. She'd produced the talented but quirky gelding to Grand Prix but Carl gelled with him better. Their scores impressed each time out and lead to selection for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics where Carl produced one of the best tests of his life to secure the team bronze medal. Weeks later, they were in action at the European Championships in Germany where he played a vital role in claiming team silver in a battle with Denmark.