British 2012 Olympic team gold and individual bronze dressage freestyle medal winner Laura Bechtolsheimer Tomlinson and her family are in Wellington, Fla., training up-and-coming competition horses that are new to the big stage for the 2015 winter season. Tomlinson is just getting back into the swing of competition after having a daughter, Annalisa, six months ago.

Tomlinson and her parents, Dr. Wilfred and Mrs. Bechtolsheimer, brought five horses from their stables in Great Britain to get some experience under their belts in the Florida show ring and work up the levels. Laura’s husband, Mark Tomlinson, having been to Florida only once before to play on England’s 2009 polo team to beat the USA team, has returned with six polo ponies basing himself at Grand Champions Polo Club. Stabled only a mile away from Stillpoint Farm, where Laura trains, Mark and the family have a perfect set-up for the 2015 winter season.

Laura’s two key mares, 11-year-old, 17.3 hand, leggy Unique (affectionately called Minnie), a  Holsteiner (Carpaccio x Lord) and 7-year-old Dolcevendy (Lord Leatherdale x Jazz) have a little over 10 more weeks through the winter season to work on their strength and confidence.

Laura and Unique have been together for four years, train all the Grand Prix movements together and plan to compete in the small tour and later in the large tour. Their winter season got off to a good start on Feb. 5 when they won the CDI* Prix St. Georges at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival Week 5.

Laura has had Dolcevendy for only one year and they will compete at third level. Laura prefers the challenge of producing her young horses from an early stage. 

Apprentice and Bechtolsheimer stable jockey since 2010, Lara Griffiths will be competing the 13-year-old Hanoverian Rubin Al Asad (Rubin‑Royal x Wanderbursch II) and homebred Kristjan (Palarian x Cadinala). She works together with the family on the riding and upkeep of all the horses.

It was in the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany that Laura made her first senior team appearance with Douglas Dorsey and then a team début on Mistral Højris (Alf) in 2007 (having competed Alf in the bronze medal winning Young Rider team in 2005). In 2008, she rode Alf at the Olympic Games in Hong Kong for Britain. In 2009, they won team silver and individual bronze in the Grand Prix Special at the European Championships in Windsor.

In 2010, the main goal was the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky where she won three silver medals—two individual and one team.  She also won the National Championships on Andretti H (Andy) in 2010. In 2011, they won team gold at the European Championships as well as an individual bronze medal. Later in the year, she became National Champion for the second time with Andy and won the World Cup qualifier at Olympia with Alf. In 2012 at the London Olympics, Alf won team gold and an individual bronze medal with Laura, then was retired.

The Chronicle caught up with Laura about why she’s in Florida for the first time and her future plans…

What made you want to come to Florida?

It’s a great opportunity to compete and build my horses’ confidence in the ring by doing several shows in a row without putting any miles on them.  My husband and I can both do our job in the same place and as a bonus, home is freezing right now.

At the moment, the competitions are a bit of a test to see where we are with the horses.  We need to gain the necessary confidence in the ring, hence starting at lower levels and hoping to progress up the levels whilst staying here in Florida. Having the competitions at our doorstep makes it much easier to keep practicing without putting miles on them, which we would have to do in Europe to get the same exposure. There is no pressure to be at the top of the leaderboard this year.

In Europe it’s harder to do the number of competitions you have here in such a short period of time. They would have to travel more than 12 hours, across the English Channel each time and the horses would have to compete in the indoor competitions with a closed-in atmosphere they would not be ready for. 

Laura and Dolcevendy enjoying a sunny, warm schooling session. 

How is Mistral Hojris (Alf) now?

Alf is a wooly mammoth out in the field. Now that I am trying to get back into Grand Prix after giving birth, I miss riding him a lot.

What do you think of Florida? Is it your first visit?

I used to come here to visit my uncle years ago, but never with horses.  I think it’s a great place to work the horses. I have nothing to worry about other than my horses and my daughter, so it’s like training camp, which is great. The weather and facilities are ideal and I even have my dogs with me, so it feels like home.

What’s it like having your 6-month-old daughter Annalisa in the mix? 

Laura schooling Unique.

My daughter is so much fun. My husband and I are completely besotted and love being parents, even though we still feel like kids ourselves!  It has made things different from a time management point of view, but that’s the great thing about being here. I have time to work it all out. It’s going to be a learning process for me to be focused on competitions and riding without being distracted by my little girl!

Annalisa is a brilliant baby. She sleeps through the night, loves the outdoors and warm weather. She’s quite happy here in Florida.

[Tomlinson’s husband, Mark chimed in with a funny quip, “We are hoping our daughter takes up tennis and instead of horses.”]

Have your horses acclimatized? 

My horses travelled really well and are getting into the groove here; the weather is helping with my hot mares.

What’s the weather like in Great Britain right now? 

Back home, it’s freezing. 

What’s your favorite part of the day? 

My favourite part of the day is when I pick my daughter up from her cot in the morning. She is always so excited to see us when she wakes up.

What is your strategy for 2015 with your horses?

My strategy is to go with the flow.  As my horse has not done her first Grand Prix yet, it’s very hard to have a plan. When I was competing my old horses, we knew what shows we would do at the start of the season, but now I have to see how it goes and make decisions to suit my horses depending on how they are going.

Who are you training with? Who oversees your training?

I train with my dad and then Klaus Balkenhol usually sees me for a couple of days once a month.

Is your husband playing polo here?

Yes he is…fingers crossed for him!

You are a huge giver to the up-and-coming riders. If you could impart any wisdom to young developing riders aspiring to compete in the international arena what would that be?

Be your own biggest critic, but always take things with a good sense of humor when it comes to your horses. They have to enjoy it to perform for you when the chips are down.