Michael Eilberg

The top dressage rider talks to Polly Bryan about the special horse with the potential to carry him back onto the British team, how to be a better coach and using his talent for teaching to help the sport

- Polly Bryan

IF Michael Eilberg hadn't been destined to be a dressage rider, I can imagine another profession to which he'd have been well suited: teaching. Anyone who's ever had a lesson with the 37-year-old multi-medallist, or watched one of his clinics, would likely agree that it's almost impossible not to learn something from a session with Mike.

He has an undeniable knack for explaining complex concepts, for finding analogies that pierce through confusion and for building things up slowly, until it suddenly seems impossible that you once didn't understand.

But of course, Mike was always going to be a rider. The son of dressage medallist Ferdi Eilberg, Mike grew up with his career somewhat mapped out. His path did take something of an about-turn - he started as a showjumper and switched to dressage aged 21 - but he was always set to follow in Ferdi's footsteps. And he certainly has.

Three championship team medals - two silver, including at the 2014 World Equestrian Games, and one bronze - adorn his CV, along with back-to-back young horse World Championship titles. But it's been in the nine years since his last medal European bronze with Marakov in 2015 that Mike's developed most, not just as a rider, but as a trainer.