Millie and Action Packed at Luhmuhlen 2014
The move from being a successful young rider to making it in the big time in eventing in the UK is a difficult transition that many young equestrians are facing every day. The British Eventing Team contains some very experienced and successful riders but, as with any team around the world, there is a need for some younger riders to step up and make their mark.
One such rider who is doing this with great success is 22 year old Millie Dumas. A member of two Junior European Teams in 2009 and 2010 as well as being part of the silver medal winning Young Rider Team in 2010, Millie is already a decorated athlete. In 2011 she was the winner of the Dodson & Horrell/ Horse & Hound Young Rider Training Bursary and in 2014 she took out the U25 CCI** at Tattersalls International in Ireland.
“I now feel like I’m in the big wide world,” Millie says. “It's been great doing the Young Rider teams but it's actually quite nice now to just have the pressure off for a little while because I don’t expect to be on senior teams just yet.”
That may be the case for now, but Millie has some exciting horses in the pipeline that she is bringing along nicely. Having retired Action Packed after successfully completing Luhmuhlen CCI4* this time last year, Millie has been bringing along three promising horses at two and three star level
Flying the 'rider frightener' at Tattersalls 2014 on Artistiek (above) and at Blenheim CCI3* (below)
The ten year old gelding Artistiek completed his first CCI3* double clear at Blenheim after finishing second in the CIC3* at Tattersalls in 2014 and more recently put up a great performance at Bramham to finish fourth in the U25 CCI3*
“He actually only started his eventing career half way through his sixth year so he’s come quite far in a short space of time,” Millie said of the gelding who is owned by Susan Larson. “He’s a very exciting horse for the future. We plan to take him to Burghley in September.”
A more recent addition to the team is Look Now, a 16.2hh 10 year old thoroughbred gelding previously ridden by Jonelle Price and also owned by Susan Larson.
Millie’s first outing on Look Now was in March this year when they placed second in the Intermediate Novice on their dressage score of 27.3 and by May they had cemented the partnership, finishing fifth in the Young Rider CCI2* at Tattersall’s
Millie and Look Now at Tattersalls 2015
“He actually came into my yard to sell but I soon picked up a great partnership with him and it was decided that he was to stay with me! He is a really fun horse, who is so straightforward to ride, goes in a snaffle and just loves his job”.
Look Now is aiming for Barbury CIC2* and then onwards to do his first advanced at Aston Le Walls.
There is also a strong string of young horses coming up behind these two; one of these is MGH Regents Street, a seven year old Irish gelding owned by her father Robin Dumas, that Millie has high hopes for
“MGH Regents Street was bought from Lucy Wiegersma last year, he only started competing as a six year old but is already at intermediate level and is about to do his first 2*. Although he is still green he gives me a great feel cross country; he is very typically my kind of horse, small, compact and light on his feet, very similar to Action Packed”.
Based at Rosamund Green Farm in Somerset with her parents, Millie went straight from school to working with horses.
“There was no doubt that I was going to do that and my parents were very supportive.” Millie's father, Robin was an international eventing rider who rode for his native country of France.
“I’ve kind of taken over from him now as he gave up competing a little while ago. Probably because I stole all of his horses,” she laughs. “He loves it now though.”
Mum Katie adds the British touch and Millie has been a part of the British Eventing World Class Program for four years now, giving her access to the top trainers in the UK.
“I train with Yogi Breisner quite frequently and he helps me at most of the big events as well with warming up.” The 22 year old also trains with Tracie Robinson for flat work and Peter Murphy for show jumping. “It’s been really beneficial having access to these kinds of trainers and then obviously my Dad is there as well and he’s been training me right from the start.”
It certainly helps when your father is a World Class Performance Coach but access to the best facilities as well as trainers is important too; Rosamund Green Farm has a cross country schooling course with over 150 jumps and, with 16 stables filled with a bunch of promising Novice and Intermediate horses as well as liveries and horses being taken on for schooling and breaking, it is certainly a busy yard.
More information can be found about Millie and the training facilities at Rosamund Green Farm here
