Harry Meade

Wild Lone put up a thrilling performance at Bramham to finish 8th, more than meeting expectations in his first CCI ***. With the exception of a costly mistake in counter canter, Harry was generally pleased with the dressage test, however, he feels there still much improvement to come. Ian Stark’s cross country course was not for the faint hearted and the inclusion of some attacking technical fences certainly sorted out the field. Despite this, Harry said that Wild Lone felt like an established top-level horse and that he had one of the best rides of his career. It was the first big test of speed and stamina for Charlotte Opperman’s 9 year old, and he finished full of running with just 4 time faults. A faultless clear round in the show jumping on Sunday moved him up from 10th to 8th place. A very exciting prospect for the future!

Harry had a very happy Houghton and was pleased with all three horses. After another lovely dressage and a double clear, Kilmington finished in 8th place on his dressage score of 48 in the very competitive CCI*. He and Harry are a new partnership so the cross country was a case of getting to know each other on the job but they had a very convincing round.

Tall Story II also produced a nice test in the CCI* but lost a few marks through slight tension. He gave Harry a great ride cross country finishing inside the time but un uncharacteristic 4 faults in the show jumping dropped him 16 places!

Harry was delighted with Rosealier in the CCI** who produced a very accurate test, gave Harry a confident and controlled ride cross country (she can be very strong!) and jumped clear on the third day. She finished in 14th place. It was a brilliant event despite the weather and was enjoyed by all the team.

Harry had a very hot but happy day at Mount Ballan with two Novice Horses, Tall Story II and Kilmington. Kilmington, a new ride, did an excellent test and easily led the dressage in his section on a score of 22.4. Harry took both horses very steadily across country in preparation for the 1* at Houghton next weekend but Kilmington still finished 4th.

Harry had a good weekend at Chatsworth with all three horses jumping clear round Ian Stark's challenging courses. Wild Lone jumped confidently in both phases and now feels ready and prepared for Bramham CCI***. Tinkas Time is only 8 and has recently stepped up to 3* level. The crowds in the show jumping stands were a new experience for him and the cross country was a big test. Harry felt he was understandably quite green so took him quietly for some education and was pleased with the way he coped. He will now drop down a level before running in another advanced or 3* event. Tall Story jumped a beautiful double clear with a slightly disappointing dressage mark for a very nice test and finished 6th in his section.

With no horse to ride this year following the retirement of Midnight Dazzler (see below), Harry had a different sort of excitement at Badminton this year having proposed to his girlfriend Rosie whilst walking round the course just before the event began! They plan to get married in October.

Star of the yard, Midnight Dazzler, has been retired at the age of 20 prior to contesting his sixth Badminton. [More]

Both Tinka and Alf completed their first advanced events and Harry was delighted with their performances. Tinka finished 9th in the Advanced section and Alf put up a very good performance in the 3*. This was an exciting day as both of these horses have been brought up to advanced from pre-novice level by Harry. Tall Story II added to a successful weekend finishing 3rd in the Novice.

Midnight Dazzler and Dunauger had a very successful outing in 3*. Both did good dressage tests and show jumped clear, putting them into the top eight of a strong field of 100+ horses going into the cross country phase. As it turned out, neither horse went on to capitalise on their strong placings as Midnight Dazzler was withdrawn (he ran very well last weekend at Gatcombe and only needed one run) and Dunauger ran quietly as Harry was trying a new bit out.

In his first three day event Tinkas Time produced an excellent dressage test and finished inside the time after a superb cross country round putting him into the top 10 to jump on the final day. Harry was thrilled to finish in 6th place on him.

With new ride for this season, Dunauger, Harry finished fourth. Their dressage mark of 47 penalties was good enough to put them into 4th place and they followed this up with a very solid, clear round across country, finishing inside the time. There were few clears in the show jumping phase, but Harry and Dunauger produced a very sound clear round, with just some time penalties to add to their dressage score. Dunauger had previously been competed up to advanced level by his owner Tracy Garside, who passed the ride to Harry because she found him too strong.

Harry has recorded his best ever result at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, finishing 10th with his long-time partner Midnight Dazzler, who at 19, has become the oldest horse ever to complete the event.

Harry has become the youngstest rider ever to receive an Armada dish, which are given out at Badminton every year to riders who have completed the prestigious competition five times. He previously completed with Midnight Dazzler in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and also twice with Birthday Night, in 2007 and 2008. The award is presented the year following a rider's fifth completion, so Harry received the award last week at the same time as he completed his sixth Badminton.

For the fourth year in a row Harry was awarded the Cotswold Life trophy, which is given to the highest placed local rider. Last year, after he won it for the third time, Cotswold Life generously gave the original trophy to Harry to keep, and he's got his name on the replacement at the first opportunity!

At this year's event (May 7-10) Harry and "Bobby" were one of only four combinations to finish on their dressage score of 57.7 Thanks to a typically foot-perfect, fast cross-country performance and a clear show jumping round on the final day, they leapt up the leaderboard to finish in the top 10.

Great news! After a tough two-days of riding and interviews, Harry has been invited to join the Lottery-funded World Class Development Programme, which is for athletes considered to have medal-winning potential.

Birthday Night made his Burghley debut this week giving Harry his fourth consecutive appearance at the event. They performed a good dressage test but had an uncharacteristic stop across country. The deep going took its toll, with four down show jumping, but this was good enough to secure 20th place out of 85 starters.

Once again, Harry took Midnight Dazzler and Birthday Night to Badminton. Both horses produced the best four-star dressage tests of their careers, which put them in a good postion going into the influential cross-country stage. Birthday Night (Barney) had a run-out at the "skinny" Hexagon Hedge, but still finished the course with just 1.2 time penalties. Midnight Dazzler (Bobby) was clear, but holding ground left him with 5.6 time penalties. After the final show jumping phase, Bobby finsihed in 13th place, while Barney was 31st.

At British Eventing's annual ball, Harry was presented with the Jemima Johnson Memorial Trophy, which is given every year to the rider who most epitomises the spirit of the sport.

All in a good cause, Harry and several other eventers agreed to strip off on a cold October day and model for a calendar sold in aid of a campaign to help injured rider Claire Lomas walk again. Claire was paralysed in a fall earlier in the year. For more information, visit www.get-claire-walking.co.uk.

The only combination to complete on their dressage mark, Harry and Midnight Dazzler rose from 45th after the dressage to finish 8th. After a characteristic slick cross-country round, Harry was one of just two riders to produce a clear show jumping round. For the third year running, he claimed the best under 25 award, setting a new record.

Competing in the British Open Championships, Harry and Midnight Dazzler finished seventh in a high-class field. For the second year running Harry finished 4th in the British National Championships. They also won a saddle for the best under 25 rider.

Harry finished 24th with Birthday Night and 20th with Midnight Dazzler. He was also (for the second year running) the best under rider under the age of 25. BBC Points West dedicated several minutes to Harry in the pre-event build-up and both of Harry's cross country rounds were shown live on BBC Grandstand.

The Daily Telelgraph set the scene for the competition by publishing a feature all about Harry and Midnight Dazzler just before Burghley. After a decent dressage score, Harry and Midnight Dazzler completed once again in the fastest cross-country time and dislodged one show jump to finish 20th. Harry was presented with the prize for the best rider under 25 for the second year running.

Harry was asked to write a monthly column in the largest regional newspaper in the South West - the Western Daily Press. To see the budding journalist’s pearls of wisdom, visit www.westerndailypress.co.uk

Giving Midnight Dazzler a pre-Burghley run in the British Open Championships, Harry rode a good dressage test and just rolled one pole before scorching round the cross-country to finish eighth. This also put them fourth in the senior national championship.

Harry was asked to ride in a charity flat race during an evening meeting at Newbury racecourse. After starving himself for 24 hours beforehand, bar one much-appreciated banana, Harry just managed to make the 9st 7lb weight and rode Run-Danny-Run into fifth place out of a field of 12. He appeared to greatly enjoy it, although on his way to supper that evening he was heard to say that he wasn’t planning a career change.

Harry's first Badminton was a successful one. Having stormed around the cross-country course in the fastest time of the day, and lowered one show jump, he and Midnight Dazzler completed in 21th place. The Times reported Harry's cross-country to be "one of the most stylish and impressive rounds of the day". Harry was also awarded trophies for the best under 25 rider, the best local rider and the best Badminton first-timer.

Having been nominated by Midnight Dazzler's owners Carolyn and Richard Lissack, Harry was runner up for this award. The Lissacks said: “It was just reward for Harry’s meticulous attention to detail and careful preparation of our horse. Midnight Dazzler is an individual and thrives on being treated as such.”

The youngest rider to be selected for the national training squad, Harry is now able to take advantage of regular Lottery-funded training and support.

Harry made an impressive four star debut with Midnight Dazzler, finishing 13th at their first Burghley. They performed their best ever dressage test, followed it up with an effortless clear round across country and were only one of four combinations to jump a clear round in the show jumping. Harry also won awards for the best first timer and the best rider under the age of 25.

Harry and Francis Whittington agreed to ride in the celebrity pairs cross-country challenge, which took place in the main arena on the Sunday during the European Championships at Blenhiem. Some of the top riders in the world took part in the crowd-pleasing event, and rode in fancy dress, with Harry and Francis camping it up as fairies.

There will be a pre-Burghley feature all about Harry and Bobby (Midnight Dazzler) which will be published in the Daily Telegraph on the first day of Burghley (Thursday).

Harry has given 3 talks to different Pony Clubs in he last month, but the South and West Wilts asked him to give a lecture demonstration using two of his horses. Jack and Alf were very cooperative and hopefully gave the crowd their money’s worth. Jack ended up showing off and jumping single barrels down the school.

Harry had an fantastic weekend, giving Bobby (Midnight Dazzler) a pre-Burghley run in the British Open. They did a good dressage test and just rolled one pole before storming round the cross-country to finish 8th. This also put them 4th in the senior National Championships. At the age of 23 Harry is making a clear mark on the senior international stage.

Harry has been asked to write a monthly column in the largest regional newspaper in the South West. To see the budding jounalist’s pearls of wisdom buy the Western Daily Press!

A great day at the office saw Harry finish 1st and 2nd on Spring Heeled Jack and Sir Quizzical. Harry attributes his success to the presence of all the spectating school girls!

Harry was recently asked to ride in a charity flat race during an evening meeting at Newbury racecourse. It turned out that he was rather optimistic when estimating his weight the previous week - agreeing that he could ride at 9st 7lb despite having not set foot on a set of scales in about a year! Having starved himself (bar one much-appreciated banana) since the previous evening, he did succeed in doing the weight and rode a horse called Run-Danny-Run into 5th place out of a field of 12 horses. He appeared to greatly enjoy it, although on his way to supper he was heard to say that he wasn’t planning a career change!

Harry and Midnight Dazzler had an excellent week at Badminton. Despite the ‘beefing up’ of this years cross-country course, Harry was one of the few competitors to jump clear and finish inside the time. With an impressive show jumping round they pulled up to finish a very credible 21st, also scooping a bundle of trophies. These include

• BEST BADMINBTON FIRST TIMER (Laurence Rook Trophy )
• BEST RIDER UNDER 25 (Worshipful Co. of Saddlers’ Saddle )
• BEST LOCAL RIDER (Cotswold Life Trophy)

The Times reported Harry’s cross-country to be “one of the most stylish and impressive rounds of the day”.

This year the BBC showed 6 hours of live prime-time coverage of Badminton during the Saturday afternoon. Harry’s round was shown in full and he was interviewed afterwards. Harry also featured in a special interview where Clair Balding discussed the “Great British Young Guns”.

BBC Points West dedicated an entire news feature to Harry and his plans for Badminton. After filming a training session and several interviews with Harry, the crew went to Badminton to film a sneak preview of the course. When the news item was shown, it was surprisingly an exclusive about Harry and his aims for the upcoming event.

After two days in France, three in Holland and endless tours of Britain, Harry has found a very exciting young horse in Ireland. He spent six days there, travelling from the north to the south and looking at over 60 horses. The horse is called Spring Heeled Jack and will start competing in April. Jack may come on the market later this year to be kept with Harry (either in syndicated shares or single ownership).

Harry has become the nation’s youngest rider to be selected for the British B Squad. He joins Britain’s top international riders and will receive training and support from the senior team trainers.

At their recent annual dinner, the Event Horse Owners Association presented Harry with their prestigious award for The Rider who has given their owners the most pleasure within the sport of Eventing. Harry was nominated by his owners Richard and Carolyn Lissack. This is a particularly esteemed award because owners play an invaluable role in the sport, and what they want in return for their investment is pleasure. Providing them with this is paramount. The Lissacks said “It was just reward for Harry’s meticulous attention to detail and careful preparation of our horse. Midnight Dazzler is an individual and thrives on being treated as such”.

Harry is proud to announce Pukka Clothing’s involvement with Meade Eventing. Pukka have long been a well known brand with a major presence at British events, and Harry is looking forward to working together with them. Harry said “Pukka’s clothes are very popular in the Eventing world and I hope that through this sponsorship they can better target customers. It is great to be involved with a team that are so enthusiastic about top level sport”.

Harry and Francis Whittington agreed to ride in the Celebrity Pairs Cross-Country Challenge which took place in the main arena on the Sunday during the European Championships at Blenhiem. Some of the top Event Riders in the world partook in the crowd-pleasing event, and rode in fancy dress. As the future faces of British Eventing, Harry and Francis decided that it would be fitting to dress as… fairies!

Harry has just experienced his most successful week to date. On Friday Bobby (Midnight Dazzler), who has been historically tricky in the dressage phase at major events, performed the test of a lifetime. He and Harry stormed round the cross country on the Saturday, and jumped an impressive showjumping round on Sunday. Only three other riders jumped double clear. Harry finished 13th and was the only rider in the top 15 not to have competed at a senior Championships (Olympics or Worlds). Harry also won:

• BEST BURGHLEY FIRST TIMER (Land Rover Trophy)
• BEST RIDER UNDER 25 (Dege and Skinner Coat)

For more, visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk