About Alex
Alex was born into a Cambridge farming family steeped in horses. The foundations of horsemanship and a competitive spirit were firmly instilled through a lovely decade in the Newmarket & Thurlow Pony Club where he realised that eventing was his thing.
The penny dropped as to just how important the dressage phase was with his particularly stubborn but capable horse Countryman. He’d often finish JOITs on his dressage score with 2 double clears yet come only 8th or 10th. Good enough for a GB longlist request at 15yo but no more. So he worked tirelessly to get it right in the arena (for months) and finally nailed 3 x 22s at open intermediate level. This was the catalyst for Alex’s RingCraft passion as he ended up on 22 for those 3 events in a row, winning comfortably against the likes of Toddy, his trainer Owen Moore, Ginny Leng and Andrew Nicholson. This unexpected twist prompted the Junior selectors to put Alex in the team in 1989. Sadly and as typical horses are, Countryman then went lame.
Alex went on to ride competitively for just one more year for Major Derek Allhusen and the Hon Claudia on an array of horses and reached 31 in the rankings, competing at Advanced 4*, when he suffered a rotational fall at Weston Park in 1990. This put an end to the competitive years.
In the years that followed, he studied a Ba Hons in Equine Studies at Moreton Morrell, Became a List 6, 5 and 4 dressage judge in consecutive years and was selected for a Young Trainers scholarship with Gill Watson. Family and business took priority for 15 years, then Alex’s passion was able to be re-ignited through FEI ground jurying at Houghton International. He then became FEI trained in Lignieres, France, took and passed his List 3 BD exam during covid and recently was promoted to a Level 1 FEI Judge. RingCraft is Alex’s speciality and passion, now it’s his full time job. This is the start of a new and exciting chapter for him and for many riders keen to progress up the levels. In November 2023, Alex upgraded to List 3a BD, and is currently working towards List 2 for 2024 with a potential transfer to Level 2 for the FEI at the end of the year. The 'a' in 3a means that Alex is now qualified to judge all levels of eventing and Adv / Med in BD.
There’s no one more capable nor enthusiastic to help you get those extra marks that you so deserve.
What some happy Ringcraft Divas say:
I've had a super couple of lessons this weekend with Alex. it's been massively helpful in so many ways. Alex has picked up on the areas where I need to make adjustments and given me some effective solutions to work with to improve how I ride which in turn help my horse to show off his abilities. I have picked up a number of simple adjustments which I can do which will improve the accuracy and presentation of my tests. I've spent a few mins after each lesson to reflect and document the key light bulb moments after my sessions to help me remember! Alex has been really great, cheerful and patient. the videos of my tests help marry up what I felt and I can see very clearly the reasoning behind the corrections I need to make to improve.
yeah thoroughly positive thank you.
Very keen to include this way of training into our plan.
- Cheryl C
I had a RingCraft session with Alex back in October and it was great fun and lots of useful advice and tips.I am an older rider and have only been competing BD for under a year. Alex put me at ease and my confidence improved. I review the video of my session from time to time and it helps to refresh my memory. I did this just before going out competing last weekend and was thrilled to win both Prelim classes with 68.62% and 68.96%. Thank you Alex!! I will look out for more sessions in the coming months.
- Caroline V
Lots of homework to help improve our scores. Straight talking and very entertaining through the headset which put me at ease and helped me focus on my rather fresh 5yo and how to improve the quality of work.
- Georgie Y.
