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Portrait of our Dressage Judge Richard Wheeldon |
Now retired, Richard has had a long and varied association with horses.
Whilst working full time in Government Service, he took part in horse trials, shows and dressage. His early trainers included Clarita Ellenberger, who was a pupil of the late Colonel Rodzianko, Charles Harris, the only English rider of his generation to have graduated from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and Robert Humphrey, a protege of Nuno Oliveira. An increasing interest in horsemanship led to his gaining the BHSAI qualification in 1988 and subsequently working as a freelance instructor.
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A serious accident in 1993 sidelined him from active riding and competition, as well as ending his mainstream working career, though he was able to add to his BHS qualifications and concentrate on Judging.
He now holds his BHS Intermediate Teaching and Stable Managers certificate and is a British Dressage List 6 Judge. |
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For many years he was a member of the BHS North Lincolnshire committee as their Welfare Representative for Gainsborough and he is an enthusiastic supporter and committee member of local Riding Clubs.
As Chief Dressage Steward at the BE Lincoln Horse Trials Richard and his wife Maureen help organise this phase and make sure everything runs smoothly |
Currently he is interested in bringing together the classical training of the horse as embodied in the Scales of Training, with the methods used by natural horsemanship exponents such as Monty Roberts and Pat Parelli. An admirer of the humane and non-violent methods used by Carrie Adams and Carl Hester, Richard is dedicated to helping riders at "grass roots" level set out on the path to better horse performance through an understanding of the basic princilpes of schooling.