Biography

It will be a Badminton debut for British rider Mollie Summerland (24) who is based near Swindon in Wiltshire. With Badminton entry Charly van Ter Heinden, Molllie was the winner of the Luhmuhlen 5* last year – the youngest winner of the event – and in 2020 the pair was 10^th at Pau – their first 5*.

Mollie learnt to ride with her primary school friends at a local riding school. She began competing with British Eventing at 12-years-old and was a member of the BE youth programmes, culminating with a place on the British Young Rider team at the 2018 European Championships in Fontainebleau (9^th). After A levels, and prior to the European Championships, Mollie was based with Pippa Funnell. With Pippa, she learned a huge amount, which she has incorporated into her own training and horse management. In 2019 with Charly, Mollie was the winner of the BE Britannia 4* league for riders who have not started in a senior championship team. In 2020 the pair made a successful 5* debut at Pau (10^th) represented Team GB on three senior Nations Cup teams – in 2021 the pair was member of the winning nations cup team at Houghton Hall – and won Luhmuhlen 5*. Mollie also has a four-year-old stallion out of Charly’s full sister who she hopes will be used as a breeding stallion next year.

Mollie trains with Carl Hester, Olivia Oakley, Robin Dumas and Jay Halim

Mollie has three Chihuahuas and when not doing horses is taking them for a walk. She enjoys following athletics since meeting future Olympic hopefuls on the Olympic ambition programme and enjoys watching pure dressage.

Charly van Ter Heiden owned by the rider is a 13-year-old German-bred Hannoverian gelding. Bred by Klaus Steffens, he is by the dressage stallion Contendros Bube out of Espanja by Escudo II. He was acquired as a 5-year-old in Germany although had never jumped under saddle.