Dressage "extravaganza" event cancelled by Willinga Park and it's giving me Fyre Festival vibes
Last week the premier Australian venue Willinga Park in New South Wales, cancelled an event named the "YRS Triple Crown" booked my Alicia Dickinson with her business "Your Riding Success" (Dickinson has been the alleged whistleblower for CDJ video). The event was to be hosted in March 2025, but the venue issued a statement last week cancelling it due to misrepresentation of the brand.
"Willinga Park was engaged in discussions with an external party regarding the hire of our venue for an event. It came to our attention this week that a brochure titled ‘Willinga Park YRS Triple Crown’ was publicly distributed. This brochure misrepresented our brand, leading to a significant influx of negative enquiries that have adversely affected the reputation of Willinga Park. As an organisation dedicated to supporting equestrian sports and riders, and maintaining positive relationships with competitors, governing bodies, and clubs, we place a high value on our brand's integrity. In light of these developments, Willinga Park has cancelled the event booking."- Willinga Park.
The Prizes
The event boasted huge prizes such as a "4 week European training holiday $40,000" , "GP Horse lease for 12 months $250,000" and "Luxury Dressage Saddle $4,000". These types of prizes would raise many an eyebrow in the equestrian community, so I had a look into Dickinson's businesses.
Someone say Fyre festival?
Your Riding Success & Dressage Institute
Alicia has been based in the UK for about 8 years and has two websites, "You Riding Success" and "Dressage Institute". Your Riding Success is an online content platform created by Alicia Dickinson and Natasha Althoff. This was the basis of the (now cancelled) dressage extravaganza event. The other, Dressage Institute, is a mix of in person and online training. She offers ridden lessons on "FEI horses" for high prices. According to Horsesport.com "She charges US $797 for a single lesson – yet has no FEI competition record or any UK-recognised coaching credentials".
One of the horses she uses for the "FEI horse" lessons is "Wessel" (Wessel II) who has been described as "a Grand Prix dressage horse who has retired from competition. For several years, he served as the cornerstone of Alicia’s career. Possessing Grand Prix level training courtesy of Alicia, he consistently earned impressive scores and proved to be the star of our team." - Dressage Institute Website. Wessel can't be found on the FEI database, and is recorded to be ridden at Inter II, three times between 2017 & 2020 on the BD database.
I looked up Alicia's British Dressage record to find a total of 8 entries, and 3 of which were completed, the rest were no shows or retired. Out of those, there was a first place at Intermediaire 2, however, she was the only entrant for the class. She has been described on her website and on social media as a GP rider, but I can't find any record of her riding at GP (if there is please let me know).
Dressage South Australia posted about training opportunities for the 2015 Youth Scholarship with Dickinson. Describing "Alicia (as) successful at the highest level of dressage (Grand Prix).....In 2014 at Australia's most prestigious International competition, the Sydney CDI, Alicia was awarded the Grand Prix winning score, from one of only two of Australia's International FEI 5 Judges"* After some searching for the 2014 CDI results in Sydney, I couldn't find Alicia's name on the list.
Berni Saunders
<"Berni Saunders is a respected Australian dressage rider, journalist and co-founder of the long established Cyberhorse portal. She told HorseSport.com that many people around the world feel fleeced by Dickinson."
- Horsesport.com
Below is a post from Berni regarding Alicia Dickinson's Your Riding Success & Dressage Institute:
Here are some screengrabs from an email inviting the user to a new package:
Having read many comments online, its interesting to see what Alicia has been described as, such as coach, GP and FEI rider, yet no links to any of these claims can be found. One commentor saying "Who the hell is Alicia??" and another "Those prices are extraordinary and for people with no record".
As Berni says in her post, please do your homework and deal with accredited coaches.
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