Celebrating the dressage horse who is at the top of his or her game and is a pure joy to watch
For the third year in a row, we will crown the best horses in their individual sports based on your votes as part of the annual Horse & Hound Awards. See who’s made the shortlist and place your votes below…
Dressage Horse of the Year 2025 shortlist
Athene Lindebjerg
18yo mare, Gribaldi x Diamant
Rider: Mari Durward-Akhurst
Owners: Di Redfern, Nick Durward-Akhurst and Romilly Hart
Breeder: Ulla and Kristian Bech
With a decade-long career, countless championship medals, including three Paralympic golds with her former rider Sophie Christiansen, Athene is already a legend of para dressage.
Now, she’s written a new chapter with Mari, helping her to her Paralympic debut in Paris and a freestyle bronze, followed by two more bronze medals at the Europeans this summer. In a season of change, they’ve been the calm, consistent force.
Based at South Bucks RDA, Athene is not just a champion – she’s also an ambassador for the next generation of para riders. “She’s just an incredible mare,” says Mari. “She walks into the arena like, ‘I’ve got this.’ I always know she’ll look after me.”
Fame
15yo stallion, Bordeaux 28 x Rhodium
Rider: Carl Hester
Owners: Carl Hester, Fiona Bigwood and Fiona’s daughter, Mette Dahl
Breeder: M Gerritsen
A horse worthy of standing alongside Carl Hester’s all-time greats, Uthopia and Nip Tuck. Fame has now contested three consecutive championships.
He delivered once again at this year’s Europeans by being best of the British in the grand prix to lead the team to a silver medal, adding this to last year’s Olympic team bronze and the team European gold he won in 2023.
Carl describes their connection as “love at first ride” and credits Fame with rekindling his love for competing.
“He’s the most fun horse I’ve ever ridden – he just goes and goes,” says Carl. “He’s become so consistent. If he’s the last championship horse I ride, then I’ve been very lucky to have had him.”
Jagerbomb
11yo gelding, Dante Weltino OLD x Broere Jazz
Rider: Becky Moody
Owners: Becky Moody and Jo Cooper
Breeder: Becky Moody
From underdogs to individual medal contenders, this home-bred British hero has risen through the ranks with power and poise.
Last year, Jagerbomb and Becky Moody turned heads as breakout stars in Paris. This season, they’ve proved they belong among the world’s best. Their performances have gone from strength to strength, challenging the sport’s most decorated names while becoming role models for the next generation.
At the European Championships in Crozet, they were the highest British scorers in both the special and the freestyle – and the journey’s far from over.
“I still want a bit more,” says Becky. “But I’m so proud of ‘Bomb’, bless his little heart. There’s more to come – we’re trying to get better all the time.”
Swanmore Dantina
10yo mare, Dante Weltino OLD x Charatan W
Rider: Sadie Smith
Owner: Sadie Smith
Breeder: Ben St John James
On paper, Swanmore Dantina’s rise to national champion looked written in the stars – six national titles with Sadie prior to this summer, international wins and a senior Nations Cup debut in Rotterdam. But as a young horse, she wasn’t flashy, she was unassuming – and Sadie wasn’t sure she’d make it.
Yet with every step up the levels, Dantina proved herself. At this summer’s nationals, she rose to the moment, winning the biggest title of their career, and something Sadie, who learnt to ride at a riding school, working weekends in exchange for lunchtime rides, never thought she’d achieve.
“I felt so emotional – it was a career high,” Sadie says. “To do it on my own horse, too, it’s hard to put into words. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime horse for me.”
Voting closes at 5pm on Thursday 30 October and the winners will be revealed at a star-studded ceremony on 26 November, and featured online, on social media and in the following week’s magazine (4 December). Read the H&H Awards 2025 terms and conditions
Previous Dressage Horse of the Year Award winners
The previous winners of the Dressage Horse of the Year Award are:
- 2024: Jagerbomb, scored a personal best in the grand prix special at the Paris Olympics helping Britain win bronze
- 2023: Glamourdale, 2022 world champion and individual silver medallist at the 2023 Europeans
Prior to 2023, the Horse of the Year Award ran across all equestrian disciplines, and the winners include:
- 2022: Vanir Kamira, the much-loved veteran mare, who added Burghley to her previous Badminton win
- 2021: the world’s best showjumper and Olympic champion Explosion W, ride of Ben Maher
- 2020: the legendary Valegro was crowned the horse of the decade (2011-2020) by H&H readers
- 2019: Piggy French’s ride Vanir Kamira may be “a pain in the arse 352 days a year”, but this true five-star horse “comes into her own at Badminton and Burghley”
- 2018: Arctic Soul, the former racehorse turned elite eventer, ridden by Gemma Tattersall
- 2017: Nip Tuck, Carl Hester’s outstanding equine partner
- 2016: Valegro, the elite dressage star and world record breaker, ridden by Charlotte Dujardin
About the Horse & Hound Awards 2025
The Horse & Hound Awards are celebrating their 10th year, being held in partnership with NAF and Agria.
As ever, the Horse & Hound Awards winners will be nominated and voted for by you, with the exception of the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award, which is decided by a Horse & Hound panel. We will recognise both the big names who have made 2025 special and the unsung heroes who make it possible for all of us to enjoy equestrian sport and our horses, at every level.
The ceremony will take place at Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire, where some 300 people, including stars of this summer’s European Championships, will enjoy a glamorous evening of champagne, winner reveals, Oscar-style speeches and dancing on Wednesday 26 November.
