MULTIPLE medal-winning event rider Karen Dixon (nee Straker) has recently moved across the Irish Sea from the north of England and is now settling in to her new home outside Killinchy, Co Down where she has already established good connections with the local vet, farrier, etc.

Karen’s husband Andrew, to whom she will be married 25 years next week, is originally from Northern Ireland and always wanted to return to his roots. They have brought three horses with them including the 30-year-old Reformed Character gelding Too Smart on whom Karen won Punchestown in 1994, when he was just eight, before going on to place third in Burghley later that year. The British autumn four-star event was a regular hunting ground for the combination who were fifth there in 1995 and second four years later.

The Dixons’ 14-year-old daughter Tara began competing under British Eventing rules in the spring of 2014 and this season had some good placings with the 14.2hh Connemara gelding Carracanada Kieran (by Loughlum Sadat).

Their son Rory (17) also events but his main love is ski racing; he is currently third in the GB slalom and eighth in the giant slalom. His grandfather, Robin Glentoran Dixon, won gold in the two-man bobsleigh at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics.

Former French international event rider Eric Pele, a longtime resident of Northern Ireland, was introduced to Karen by a friend of a friend and has arranged for her to hold clinics over Christmas (December 23rd and 30th) at Lisbane Farm on the outskirts of Ballynahinch. Eric has carried out a huge amount of work on the arena which now incorporates banks and ditches. See his Facebook page for further details.

The clinics will provide a great opportunity to be coached by Karen, who represented Britain at four consecutive Olympic Games (riding Too Smart in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000) and three consecutive World Championships, winning team and individual medals as she did at European championship level.