Stouffville, Ontario – Junior dressage athlete Breanne Willoughby-Brown of Stouffville, ON, has been accepted as a member of the Equine Academy’s Elite Squad at Hartpury College, University of Southwestern England, for the fall of 2006.

While pursuing her Bachelor of Science degree in Equine Sports Science, Willoughby-Brown will also be able to pursue her competitive goals with her own horse as a member of the Hartpury Equine Academy’s Elite Squad. Each year, just six dressage athletes and six eventing athletes are selected to comprise the Elite Squad where students are able to achieve their competitive goals while obtaining a university education. Support for the Elite Squad includes training sessions, assistance with planning competition schedules, access to physiotherapists, fitness coaches and nutritionists, and, in the case of the dressage students, instruction from well-known British Olympian Carl Hester.

“I am ecstatic, it is going to be so amazing,” said an animated Willoughby-Brown, 18, who is currently a student at Uxbridge Secondary School. “It is such an incredible opportunity, and the program is so different from anything we have here in Canada. It is a little scary to think that I am leaving everything behind and going so far away for three years, but training in Europe is a step that almost every serious rider needs to take at some point in their career, and I am just doing it a little bit sooner than most.”

Helping Willoughby-Brown make the transition will be her horse, Espar, a 13-year-old chestnut Hannoverian gelding by Espri that she purchased in Denmark in 2004. Willoughby-Brown and Espar quickly formed a strong bond and, despite a shorten 2005 competitive season due to Espar’s foot injury, the pair enjoyed tremendous success which included winning all three tests comprising the FEI Junior division at the CDI3* Ottawa Fall Classic in August, including the Freestyle with a score of 70.21%. In addition, Willoughby-Brown was awarded her Dressage Canada Silver Medal as well as the Lauren Dilanni Freestyle Award given in recognition of competitors that achieve three scores above 65% in musical freestyle competition.

In 2006, Willoughby-Brown will continue to compete in the FEI Junior division, open to athletes aged 18 and under, and hopes to qualify for the North American Junior Dressage Championship to be held for the first time in conjunction with the North American Young Riders’ Championship in Lexington, VA, in August.

Willoughby-Brown first began riding at the age of ten at summer camp and turned her attention to dressage two years later. Since 2002, she has trained with Canadian Olympian Belinda Trussell at Oakcrest Stables in Stouffville, ON. That same year, she won the Basic 1 and 2 Junior Trillium Championship title and, by 2004, had advanced to the FEI Junior ranks. Willoughby-Brown is quick to credit her coach for her success, saying, “I like training with Belinda because she is extremely positive, and she knows when to push me and when to let me figure things out on my own. She is truly an inspiring person with a great outlook on life and training. And, of course, she found Espar for me, a horse that suits me perfectly and that I adore.”

In August, Willougby-Brown will pack her bags for England while Espar will follow in September. Although she will miss her parents and the comforts of home, Willougby-Brown will be lucky to have her older brother, a student at the University of Birmingham, less than an hour away.

For more information on the equine studies programs offered by Hartpury College, please visit www.hartpury.ac.uk.