Anna Ross Davies

Anna and Liebling

Anna started having a lesson once a fortnight at her local riding school aged nine, which lead to her becoming a helper and riding lots of naughty ponies. BHSI Sue Payne then suggested Anna train for her BHS exams at Talland School of Equitation in Gloucestershire. She was 22 when trainers Pammy Hutton and Adam Kemp spotted her talent. Anna was holding down two jobs when she was offered a scholarship by Pammy and Adam.

After a couple of years, Anna returned to her old riding school to run it. She started competing a large variety of riding school horses ranging from an Anglo-Arabs to a Danish Warmblood stallion. She also trained a Cleveland Bay called Mr Bojangles up to intermediaire I level.

It was while she was competing at Patchetts Equestrian Centre in Hertfordshire that she was approached to ride a horse the centre’s owner, Donald McTaggart, had recently bought. It was a sharp four-year-old called Liebling II. The Holstein gelding made good progress and they ended up at their first international competition in 2003.

Dressage judge Judy Firmston-Williams also noticed Anna’s talent and offered her another ride. Anna became manager and trainer at Patchetts.

In 2004, Anna watched top German rider Ulla Salzgeber at a competition. She was so impressed with her riding style, she sent Ulla an email asking her for help with Liebling. Anna now spends time training in Germany every year. Ulla helped Anna with Leibling - a horse that Anna had always believed could go all the way.

Anna’s biggest successes have been achieved with Liebling. She competed in her first international, the World Breeding Championships, in 2003. The following year she became the Elementary Freestyle National Champion. She took the runner-up slot in the 2005 Intermediaire II National Championships and went on to win her first grand prix at national level in 2006 at Dressage at Hickstead.

Anna won her first international grand prix during the 2007 Spanish Sunshine Tour and made her British team debut at the 2007 Saumur CDIO. She was picked as reserve for the 2007 European Championships with less than two weeks to go before the competition, and went on to achieve the highest British placing. She finished 10th in the freestyle and was the only British rider to go through to the final stage.

In 2008, she won the inaugural Dressage Personality of the Year, which was voted for online by British Dressage members. In 2010, Anna rode her current grand prix horse Pegasus MK at Samur in 2010 and is currently contesting the 2010-2011 World Cup circuit.

Anna continues to travels to Germany to train with Ulla, whilst still riding her host of talented horses, and teaching in the UK and in 2010 founded Alltogether Equestrian with Ben Martin and Mandy Curtis to train a team of talented horses in Culworth.