LONDON 2012 gold medallist Carl Hester is to star in the Spanish Riding School's 2012 UK tour.

The Team GB dressage rider from Newent will be proudly showing off his team gold medal on tour. Hester won gold with fellow Gloucestershire riders Laura Bechtolsheimer and Charlotte Dujardin, clinching the first British dressage medal in Olympic history.

Hester will open the show at the NIA in Birmingham by performing his gold medal winning performance to the music that he rode to in the Olympics and also giving a masterclass in some of the dressage moves that the modern day sport includes.

He will also be telling behind-the-scenes stories from the London Olympics.

He said: "To win gold with such a phenomenal team is just amazing! And to do it in London is even better."

The shows run from November 16-18 in front of a likely sell-out crowd; tickets can be booked via livenation.co.uk.

BARBURY CASTLE sees a host of endurance specialists return for The Ridgeway Ride near Marlborough, Wiltshire this weekend (August 18-19).

This popular competition has received a high number of entries in the International 80km and 120km classes ahead of the World Endurance Championships this month, with riders from the UAE, Argentina, Spain and Hong Kong entered.

Barbury Castle Ridgeway Ride is also the venue for the Endurance GB Inter-regionals competition and the Southern Championships sponsored by Saracen Horse Feeds for the first placed rider over the two-day 162km distance.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE riders have triumphed at the fourth and final BRC Horse Trials Championships held at Aston-le-Walls in Northamptonshire earlier this month.

The Junior Intermediate victors hailed from Evenlode RC with a team made up of Florence Woods and Charlotte Campion from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire and Ella Leck and Laura Smith from Moreton-in-Marsh.

Emma Mealing and Trefedw Evan from Redmarley, Gloucestershire claimed individual honours, representing Malvern Hills RC, finishing on a very low score of 30.