H&H interview Dressage rider Anand Patel
The dressage rider tells Polly Bryan about his aims for the Asian Games and developing the sport in India, but why he is British through and through
ORANGE. That’s the first thing that strikes me as I settle down in Anand Patel’s cosy tack room. From my coffee mug to the photo frames, Anand’s jacket and the lorry, orange is everywhere at Tower Hill Equestrian and Anand admits he’s been obsessed with the colour all his life.
You certainly can’t miss him at shows, but then again, you wouldn’t want to. The 28-year-old’s dressage career began just six years ago, but is on a sharp upward trajectory, with his own yard full of classy horses, his first international at small tour under his belt and grand prix within touching distance.
“Everything’s happening very fast — I think I’m on the tipping point of my career,” says Anand, who finished fifth in the prix st georges (PSG) at the Bolesworth CDI4* in June with Celana T, just three months after his first test at the level.
He’s not exaggerating, and his story really is the stuff of dreams. Anand grew up having weekly lessons at Aldborough Hall Equestrian Centre, Essex, filling the days in between by watching hours of videos of Carl Hester and the Netherlands’ Kebie van der Heijen, both of whom now train him. He went on to manage the riding school during his gap year, but didn’t ride his first dressage test, an unaffiliated novice, until the age of 22. Later that same year, Anand reached the British Dressage national championships.
“The plan was always to go to university, but it was never the plan to use the degree — I always wanted to do horses professionally,” says Anand, who came away from Bristol University in 2012 with a masters degree in corporate law.
“But when I started out in dressage I didn’t know what to do, what to wear, how it worked. I heard about the international at Hickstead, so I booked a B&B and drove myself down. For five days I sat by myself in the stand next to the warm-up arena, just taking it all in.”
He has come a long way since that summer. Anand currently has three small tour horses on his yard, as well as a host of exciting youngsters coming up the levels. His top rides include Celana T, the Florencio I mare he partnered at Bolesworth, the 14-year-old Valerie, who took him from elementary to advanced within a year, and Annabelle, a Campari 10-year-old