South Western Dressage Club (SWDG) is a BHS-affiliated riding club covering Sherborne, Yeovil, Gillingham, Shaftesbury, Blandford and Wimborne, Westbury, South Somerset and West Dorset, stretching right down to the Dorset Coast and the Devon Border. We hold competitive events, guided hacks, demos, flatwork and jumping tuition plus specialist clinics.

SWDG Teams and individual members have been successful at Area Championships and at national level, winning or being placed in the National Riding Club Championships for Horse Trials and the Festival of the Horse Challenge during 2020.

 

Aston-le-Walls 100 team

It’s a club catering for riders and horses of all abilities and experience, so whatever your aims or aspirations your riding club can provide the opportunities you are looking for. Amongst other things you will find ready access to experienced and skilled local instructors, and national trainers, at highly competitive rates, as well as a warm welcome from a new group of friends and acquaintances with interests in common.

Riding clubs also have access to a national network of training and development opportunities provided by British Riding Clubs. Membership of an affiliated club ensures availability of insurance, discounts, and other benefits – so why not join? You don’t have to own a horse, or even be a rider, to join a riding club – all riding clubs welcome non-riding members and you will soon be given a job, as riding clubs are totally dependent on helpers to make events happen!

A riding club affiliated to the BHS is autonomous and runs its own affairs, whilst benefiting from the ‘umbrella’ of the main equestrian organisation in the UK. Over the years, the number of affiliating clubs has continued to grow and establish an identity together as a group which calls itself British Riding Clubs. Now, as a result of affiliation, there are more than 430 clubs and 38,000 members in British Riding Clubs.

One of the largest riding club areas in the national network with an area stretching from Devon, north to Bath and east to Wincanton, and south to the Dorset coast. There are 19 affiliated clubs making up Area 12, offering a host of equine activities and workshops to well over 2,500 members on weekdays, at weekends, during the daytime, and the evenings. Each year they compete in a series of Area Championships and National BRC Qualifying competitions in the various disciplines, and many of their teams and individual members go on to compete with great success at the national British Riding Clubs Championships and other national championships. Look out for the Area 12 Camp and subsidised training on Area 12 website

Lucy Pinney Lucy Pinney Chairman
Louiza Sims Treasurer
C Price Jan 2020 Carolyn Price Secretary
Camilla Hankinson Safeguarding Officer
Ellie Robins Ellie Robins Membership Secretary
Chloe Marsh Committee Member
Florence Pisani SJ Championships Florence Pisani Committee Member
Tor Douglas Tor Douglas Committee member
Tracy Arena Eventing at Bicton 2019 Tracy Scammell Committee Member