Leading Dressage Rider Announces World-Class Facility Planned in the South of England

Leading under-25 dressage rider, and Olympic hopeful Ellie McCarthy has paired up with world-renowned premium stabling manufacturers Röwer & Rüb (UK) Ltd to build and fit-out an elite equestrian establishment in the south of England.

Ellie, who is aiming for the Paris 2024 Olympic games with her top ride Sir Lancelot M, was looking to partner with a specialist equestrian construction company to bring her dream of building a leading equestrian centre on the southern fringes of the New Forest in Hampshire to life. The centre, which will be named ‘Forest Oak Equestrian’, will be at the same location as the riding school where Ellie took her first steps in the saddle at the age of 2 and will be her training base as she continues her Olympic campaign.

Ellie recently gained a personal best in the Inter 2 test at the European Championships in Hungary, as well as competing in the U25 Grand Prix on board Sir Lancelot M.

Röwer & Rüb (UK) Ltd is the UK subsidiary of Röwer & Rüb GmbH whose factory is based near Verden, Germany. Ellie had come across their work when competing and buying horses in Europe and was pleased to learn that Röwer & Rüb (UK) Ltd was based in Poole Harbour, just a short journey from the site in the New Forest. The discovery that Röwer & Rüb work in collaboration with equestrian construction experts Schütt and could therefore offer a world-class turnkey equestrian construction service led to Ellie and her parents getting in touch with the brand.

A tour of Park Farm Dressage in Surrey, which was the first UK project Röwer & Rüb delivered in conjunction with Schütt, sealed the deal. Park Farm was completed in 2012 and Ellie was impressed at how new the stables still looked, 7 years on in 2019. She was also delighted at how well ventilated and cool the Schütt indoor riding arena and American barns were, on what was a very hot summer day.

Ellie’s new equestrian facility, on which construction began during the first week of August 2020, will include a 60m x 20m indoor riding arena with an integrated clubhouse and viewing gallery. There will be an 18-box livery barn, which will adjoin the riding arena, and a 10-box private barn. Offices, accommodation and an outdoor riding arena complete this spacious, elite training facility.

Ellie comments:

I want this to be one of the leading equestrian centres in the south of the UK. We needed something with really high quality and Röwer & Rüb were clearly the only choice, if we were to achieve the standards we required. I was recommended to get in touch with them by a lot of contacts in the industry. The process has been great, Jamie has been so helpful, it’s so convenient that he’s close to the site as well. It’s been much less stressful having Jamie manage it! As my horses are competing at the very top level, it’s important that they have the very best.”

Once the groundworks and barn constructions are completed, Röwer & Rüb will then be fitting out the two barns with anthracite powder-coated internal stables with glass bead blasted stainless steel bars. The combination of stainless steel and powder coating gives the stables the wow-factor, and also minimises aftercare and maintenance, because the horses can’t scratch or damage the stainless-steel bars. Röwer & Rüb are also providing all the powder-coated stable windows, barn doors and ancillary equipment and finally the covered 15m ‘Teomatic’ RING horse-walker.

Learn more about Röwer & Rüb (UK) at roewer-rueb.co.uk/en

For Ellie McCarthy visit www.facebook.com/elliemccarthydressage

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Suzanne Ashton

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.