KATIE REILLY IS THE IRISH FIELD DRESSAGE RIDER OF THE YEAR 2025
KATIE REILLY IS THE IRISH FIELD DRESSAGE RIDER OF THE YEAR 2025
Katie Reilly was announced as the winner of the 2025 The Irish Field Dressage Rider of the Year award at the The Irish Horse World Awards lunch in the Palmer North Golf Club, The K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare, Ireland today [Tuesday, December 9, 2025].
Katie and the former Natasha Baker Paralympic medal-winning 14-year-old Hanoverian mare Keystone Dawn Chorus made their international debut as a combination at Doha CHI, Qatar in February. The British-based Ticknevin, County Kildare native scored five international wins this year at the CPEDI3* shows in Wellington Heckfield and Hartpury in Great Britain including an international personal best score of 75.194% in the Para Grand Prix Freestyle III at Hartpury in July.
Remarkably, at the age of just 17 Katie represented Ireland at her second consecutive European Championships in Ermelo, The Netherlands in September where she scored 72.167% for an impressive sixth place in the Grade III Para Grand Prix A which secured her qualification for the Para Grand Prix Freestyle Individual Grade III Final. She was a member of the Irish team that finished a respectable eighth of the twelve teams competing on 202.417%.
Katie was the highest ranked Irish athlete at 19th in the overall FEI Para Dressage World Individual Rankings, ranking 3rd in the Grade III World Rankings and number one in the World Individual U18 Ranking.
Speaking to MC Brendan McArdle at The K Club Katie commented “Twelve months ago I didn’t expect to be here receiving this award. It has been an amazing season with Keystone Dawn Chorus (Lottie). Many thanks to my family and my trainer John Norcross for their tremendous support. Lottie is so powerful which is why my Lady Gaga-themed freestyle to music programme is a real highlight for me. I have always had a plan to try and go as far as I can and I will continue with that in 2026.”
County Down dressage rider Courtney Akkari was voted The Irish Field / Gain Equine Nutrition Star of the Month for January 2025. Courtney’ s nomination came off the back of winning a double at the first Dressage Ireland affiliated show of the year with the five-year-old gelding Bernabeo. The award was accepted on Courtney’s behalf by Horse Sport Ireland High Performance Dressage Manager Anne Marie Dunphy.
The other award winners are as follows:
The Irish Field Senior Show Jumper of the Year 2025 - Daniel Coyle (for the third year in-a-row).
The Irish Field Senior Event Rider of the Year 2025 – Ian Cassells
The Irish Field Young Show Jumper of the Year 2025 - Emily Maloney
The Irish Field Young Event Rider of the Year 2025 – Momo Sheehy
The Irish Field/Gain Equine Nutrition Star of the Year Award 2025 – Niamh McEvoy
Previous winners of The Irish Field Dressage Rider of the Year Award (first awarded in 1997) are as follows:
1997 - Yvette Truesdale, 1998 - Heike Holstein (1), 1999 - Katy Price, 2000 - Anna Merveldt (1), 2001 - Anna Merveldt (2), 2002 - Anna Merveldt (3), 2003 - Heike Holstein (2), 2004 - Anna Merveldt (4), 2005 - Heike Holstein (3), 2006 - Anna Merveldt (5), 2007 - Heike Holstein (4), 2008 - Judy Reynolds (1), 2009 - Anna Merveldt (6), 2010 - Anna Medveldt (7), 2011 - Anna Merveldt (8), 2012 - Helen Kearney, 2013 - Roland Tong, 2014 - Judy Reynolds (2), 2015 - Judy Reynolds (3), 2016 - Judy Reynolds (4), 2017 - Judy Reynolds (5), 2018 - Judy Reynolds (6), 2019 - Judy Reynolds (7), 2020 - Kate Dwyer, 2021 - Heike Holstein (5), 2022 - Abi Lyle, 2023 - Michael Murphy, 2024 - Sarah Slattery and 2025 – Katie Reilly.
ENDS
