Dressage-News

Oct. 29, 2025

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

For Kyra Kyrklund, having “always had the horse’s welfare at my heart” in training and competition has been a core to link with Jan Brink and Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour for what will be the masterclass the trio will bring to Wellington’s Global Dressage Festival Jan. 21.

The format of three hours of demonstrations with horses and riders, interactions with spectators on the philosophy and practice of training by three of the world’s most prominent equestrians will be unique to the Americas.

Named Dressage Infusion, the Wellington event is due to Carol Cohen-Hodess of 3 Graces Farm whose daughter, Rebecca, trains with Jan Brink in Sweden as well as in Florida.

Kyra is considered among the all-time great equestrians, a much sought-after trainer around the world. As a competitor, she competed in six Olympics on six different horses from 1980 to 2008 for Finland–though she is based in England with her husband, Richard White, a fellow trainer. Plus four World Equestrian Games, six World Cup Finals which she won on Matador in 1991 and eight European Championships.

The training arrangements began initially in 1998 and held at the Swedish training center of Jan Brink that are called by its Swedish name, “Knytkalaset”. Jan rode Bjorsells Briar in three Olympics, two World Games, eight World Cup Finals, three of them in Las Vegas, and four Europeans as well as other horses in championships. Jan, too, is active as a trainer, including youth riders that in the past have been Sweden’s championship teams.

The sessions were later expanded to include Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour, with three Olympics on three different horses and on Mount St. John Freestyle leading Denmark to team silver at the Paris Games in 2024 and bronze at this year’s Europeans. On Vamos Amigos she led Denmark to gold at the 2022 World Championships, individual and Freestyle silvers, reserve champion at the 2022 World Cup Final, four Europeans all in which she medaled, as well as eight pony and youth Europeans.

Kyra explained that Knytkalaset evolved from the training in Sweden, a private initiative that started in 1998 and continues with support from sponsors.

At a session during the Falsterbo horse show in Sweden this summer, she said, a question from Carol of 3 Graces, also a sponsor of Knytkalaset, led to the decision to extend it to Wellington.

“We have a group of riders with horses we believe have the capacity to compete international Grand Prix, preferably on the national team,” she said. Training is two days a month during the autumn, winter and spring.

In addition to Cathrine for Denmark, Maria von Essen on Invoice and Sofie Lexner on Inoraline W on Sweden’s World Championship team have been involved with Knytkalaset for many years.

“I have always had the horse’s welfare at my heart and, of course, that has always been a big part of our training,” Kyra said.

“Now dressage has been criticized because of some bad videos and because horses have been put under too much pressure in competitions–to get high marks.

“We will try to show our training philosophy and how we teach and train horses.”

Tickets for Dressage Infusion at Global Dressage Festival in Wellington Jan. 21 are available at https://www.axs.com/events/1169016/dressage-infusion-masterclass-tickets