COULD BECKY MOODY BE THE ONE TO SAVE TOP LEVEL DRESSAGE?

A MumsHaynet Exclusive

Riding high following her Olympic debut, Becky Moody possesses not only a bronze medal, but also the rare honour of being a dressage rider respected across an increasingly wide divide.

With the scythe of social licence looming large over equestrian sports, Becky has emerged from Paris with a personal best as well as praise from her peers and those currently challenging the system.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 44-year-old also has a foot in both camps – accepting that things need to change while also believing that competition dressage is being unfairly targeted.

Becky told MumsHaynet: “We have to change. We have to become more transparent and we have to become better communicators, but I think that's across the board, and not just dressage.

““I do think dressage is getting a really tough time, and I totally understand why, but in Paris we had four stewards per warm up arena.

“Every dressage element was very heavily policed, generally in a very positive way, but also in a way that other equestrian competition riders weren’t.

“As a community, I think we all need to pull together to navigate this period because the constant negative focus on dressage right is the responsibility of us all.

“Saying that, it is only right that we change things and open our doors to the public.”

Becky was born in Scotland, but relocated to Gunthwaite, near Sheffield as a child.

An active member of the Rockwood Harriers branch of the Pony Club, she represented Britain at four youth European Championships, at junior and young rider level, winning two bronze medals.

Her international senior career started in 2015, with Carinsio. Together they won the Future Elite title at the Horse of the Year Show and went on to compete on British Nations Cup teams, amassing several grand prix victories.

However, Carinsio didn’t show the heart or the natural flair for some of the movements required at top level dressage and, after briefly being stepped down, he was retired to a field at Becky’s yard.

While Becky admits to a crisis in confidence following Carinsio’s failure to reach the heights she had hoped for – believing the fault lay in her ability to train the horse to greater success – she has since come to the understanding that for some horses it is simply not meant to be – something she also thought about Olympic hero Jaegerbomb.

“Bomb has taken me on this incredible journey,” says Becky. “He's ended up being a way better horse than I thought he was going to be as a young horse.  

“I'm incredibly lucky. He is amazing. He's got a beautiful front. He has a super mouth. And yes, I have helped to educate those things, but that element of him, he has made very easy for me.

“I really struggled with him not being sharp enough and reactive enough as a young horse and I talked with my sister Hannah about advertising him, but she was probably more reluctant than me because she liked that he was such a lovely boy.

“So, we kept on training and it got to the point where we were actually in a prize giving, at the nationals. The test he won with was nice without being amazing – a lovely frame, super contact – but it was in the prize giving that he showed the piaffe, on his own. He was just excited.

“That was the point at which we knew he had the technical capacity to do it. That was the first time that I really felt him have that energy and want to do it. Even then it was probably another two years until he brought it to grand prix.”

Despite Bomb’s increasing appetite and ability for top level dressage, it never crossed Becky’s mind that the pair would one day make it to the Olympics. But then the Charlotte Dujardin video made headlines.

“With the change of rules, from a team of four to a team of three, and with such a strong core group who have been on the team for a long time and have strings of horses behind them, rather than just one, I had pretty much accepted that it wasn't going to happen,” says Becky.

“It was my plan from fairly early this season to try and get that reserve slot, but I knew I wasn't going to break into the top three.

“Still, I felt like the reserve slot was a realistic goal for me to aim for and it would be an incredible experience. And it was.

“Of course, the way it happened is absolutely not the way that anybody wants to find themselves on the team, but I had to focus – to forget what was going on and focus on what was to come. I had to do the best job that I could possibly do.

“From the point that the news broke, and I knew that I'd be riding, it was really about just trying to focus forward.”

Of course, it wasn’t only Becky in unchartered territory. While all of Team GB have known pressure and some element of scrutiny in their careers, in Paris it wasn’t only the equestrian press watching, but mainstream media. The world of dressage had become world news.

“We had an incredible support team there,” says Becky. “Lottie (Fry) is absolutely cool as a cucumber with nerves of steel. She's fantastic in that situation.

“I think it was probably one of the best things for Carl to actually have something like the Olympics to focus on. He was ready to step into that role and really focus on what he was doing. He certainly helped me enormously as well.

“We all just felt we had a job to do – to show the world what our sport really is about.”

Following his unexpected Olympic debut and triumph, Bomb had a much-deserved two-week holiday on his return to Yorkshire and he will spend the next two months hacking and doing light exercise until he returns to the competition arena.

In the meantime, work continues. As well as running a busy yard, Becky has a couple of youngsters to bring on – sourced from Denise Mitchell at Gamblethorpe Farm near Leeds.

“Everyone keeps asking me what it feels like to be an Olympian, and I really don’t know; it still feels very surreal.

“Things might change, but I'm looking to keep teaching the people that I've been teaching for years. Hopefully, it will bring me new opportunities, and open a few more doors that were not so open before, and the expectation can feel quite daunting, but we just need to build on what we have done and keep trying to show the world what we do.

“In all honesty, Bomb loved every second he was in that arena in Paris and I hope the public could see that.”