Image credit: Łukasz Kowalski / British Dressage
At the age of only 19, Annabella Pidgley has achieved a gold medal at the FEI European Championships for Under 25s at Reiterhof Stückler in St Margarethen, Austria, from 17 – 21 July 2024.
The now European Champion in freestyle competition (under 25s), rode Sarah Pidgley’s gelding Gio, improving on her individual silver medal earned on Saturday 20 July. Berkshire based Annabella took the top step of the podium ahead of Germany’s Helen Erbe and Carlos FRH by riding an outstanding artistic performance to achieve a winning score of 79.515%.
Rewarded by the panel of five FEI judges Alice Schwab (AUT), Kurt Christensen (DEN), Isabelle Judet (FRA), Clive Halsall (GBR) and Maarten Van Der Heijden (NED), Annabella adds the third european gold medal to her collection, having achieved two at Young Rider level at the FEI European Championships in 2023. She joins Olympian Lottie Fry as the second British rider to become European Champion in the Under 25s category.
Annabella and Gio have been a partnership for two years, making their debut as a combination in February 2022 following ‘Pumpkin’s’ Olympic journey where he was an integral part of the team at Tokyo 2020. The pair have gained mileage at both senior and U25 level, and proved forces to be reckoned with in the latter category at this year’s European Championships, winning the opening team round, earning a silver in the individual competition and claiming gold in the freestyle.
Annabella described the achievement as “a dream come true” before commending her equine partner, “words cannot describe how grateful I am to have such a special dance partner in Pumpkin and how this little horse always tries his absolute best showing me the way in my first championships at this level.”
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Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.