LEXINGTON, Kentucky, Dec. 13, 2018–Charlotte Bredahl, a 1992 Olympic team bronze medalist and FEI 4* judge, on Thursday was named United States Development Coach, to continue building a sustainable system to produce combinations for the Dressage Elite Athlete Program.
Charlotte, 61 years old, was appointed to the U.S. Equestrian Federation post to succeed Debbie McDonald as development coach. Debbie took over from Robert Dover as the U.S. Technical Advisor Dec. 1 after more than a decade in the development role.
Charlotte had been assistant to George Williams as the official Youth Coach since 2015. The Emerging Dressage Athlete Program to develop Juniors, Young Riders and Under-25 competitors is a key segment in the so-called pipeline to build American teams from ponies to Olympics. The program received a pledge of $1 million (€880,000) over four years from Kimberly van Kampen’s Discover Dressage.
Although the U.S. federation would not confirm the number of applicants for the post, dressage-news.com learned there were candidates from both sides of the Atlantic.
Charlotte, originally from Denmark moved to California 40 years ago, settling in the Ynez Valley community of Solvang. She has bought a winter home in Wellington, Florida to immerse herself in dressage and with her big dog, Bandit, is a very recognizable figure at horse shows and restaurants.
Charlotte was a successful competitor who trained her own horses–Monsieur on the American bronze medal team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Lugano on the silver medal team at the 1997 North American Championships.
She was appointed an International Equestrian Federation (FEI) 3* judge in 2010 and promoted to 4* in 2012. After judging assignments around the world, she opted to focus her efforts on training others.
In addition to youth coach duties and privately training horses and riders, she has been an observer for the USEF Development Program led by Debbie McDonald, and was one of five selectors for the team for the Tryon World Equestrian Games.
U.S. dressage has coaches for four divisions–the technical advisor, development, youth and young horse.
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