Clayton's last Australian team appearance was at London 2012 with Bendigo
Look out James Corden. Debbie Higgs caught up with Clayton Fredericks in, of all places, the back of a car at Puhinui International 3 Day Event. The Australian Olympic medallist is based in Ocala, Florida but was visiting New Zealand for the FEI course design update course after spending some time with family in Australia
Clayton has always had an interest in cross country course design but he has become more involved since the end of his coaching commitments with the Canadian team and most recently he worked on the CCI1* and 2* courses at Ocala Jockey Club, a venue which is bidding to host the second CCI4* in the USA.
After four years as the Canadian coach, Clayton announced that he would be returning to competitive riding with an eye on trying to make the Australian team for the US based 2018 World Equestrian Games at Tryon Equestrian Centre
“More and more as time went on I really missed that top level competition. I had a natural dip in horsepower after London so it was a good opportunity to do the coaching thing for me but the passion to get back into it was too strong and I just couldn’t resist any longer and then I started to get some nice horses”
Clayton did his first 3* in November 2016 (“I was a little bit nervous!”) and is heading to Three Lakes Horse Trials with five horses for his first competition of the year
