Ruth Edge and Two Thyme at Badminton Photo:Trevor Holt
Ruth Edge, already victorious at the highest level in eventing, has decided to swap disciplines and from now on she will concentrate on dressage.
Ruth, 37, who runs her own yard in Foston, South Derbyshire, made the decision to hang up her eventing boots after riding Hugh and Ann Lawson’s Drummer in the CIC* at Somerford Park in Cheshire last weekend.
“Drummer felt fantastic – he finished on his dressage score of 37.2 in fourth place, and I didn’t think I could have given him a better ride, but I realised I hadn’t really enjoyed it,” said Ruth. “I could have carried on until the end of the season, but I thought I should stop while I was pleased with my performance and while it was going really well.”
Ruth first rode at Badminton aged 18 in 1998 on Ice Dancer II. She won many classes at national and international level, but perhaps her greatest successes came with Phil and Maureen Smith’s Two Thyme. The pair won the British Open Championship at Gatcombe Park twice, and in 2007 they won the CCI4* at Luhmühlen, Germany. They were British team reserves for the 2008 Olympics.
Ruth took a third British Open title in 2008 aboard Mayhem III, with whom she also finished fifth at Pau CCI4* and eighth at Badminton.
Ruth has always shone in the dressage phase of eventing, and a few years ago she decided to take up “pure” dressage more seriously. She has since won six national titles, all on horses she has produced from scratch, and in December 2013 she made her grand prix debut on Shadowfax – later sold to America – and they scored 69.39%.
“The decision to concentrate solely on dressage has been simmering for some time,” says Ruth. “I had a bad fall cross-country schooling last July – the horse was going really well but for some reason he just didn’t take off at a fence. I was very lucky only to break my collarbone. He was a fab little horse who didn’t make mistakes and, although it was neither of our faults, you go through it and through it in your mind to try to find the reasons.
“And I was torn three ways between eventing, dressage and training – I love training people and that side of things has really taken off . I found watching the Rio Olympics inspired me – you see how much incredibly hard work people put into one sport, and I’m split between two.
“Riding at the Olympics has always been, and still is, my goal, and I want to focus on making that happen. Now is the perfect time to start building towards that.
“I’ve always been very driven and I’ve learnt lots of things from all my eventing experience; hopefully I can channel that towards dressage to succeed in the best way I can.”
Ruth has four exciting young dressage horses to compete, two of whom are qualified for this year’s national championships – and she is looking for more rides.
