About us

About Crown Riding Club

CROWN is a an affiliated riding club with the BRC Area 5 for riders in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northants.

Voted the 2016 NAF Five Star Riding Club of the Year at the inaurgural Horse & Hound Awards, CROWN continues to go from strength to strength since our launch in 2014, attracting members from all three counties and beyond.  With an ever growing annual membership, CROWN welcomes riders of all levels and abilities including non-riding social members so that nobody misses out! 

We provide regular training at some of the best venues in the area with a selection of fantastic trainers from all disciplines.  CROWN offers three annual camps; spring, summer and winter at the impressive Unicorn Trust Centre in Stow-on-the-Wold giving members the perfect excuse to get away for a few days with their four legged friends! Not only that, but we also hold regular socials, informative talks and opportunities to volunteer at some of the best high profile events such as Your Horse Live and Blenheim International Horse Trials.

CROWN also regularly sends out teams to the Area 5 Competitions and in 2018 alone, our riders attended six BRC Championships! Teams are always inclusive, supportive and fun placing the focus on just getting out there and enjoying yourselves, anything on top of that is a bonus.  We pride ourselves on encouraging the grassroots riders to dip their toes and hooves into the competitive world, especially through our extremely popular Stressless Dressage League.  This league is held annually, with three competitions dotted across the three counties culminating in the Championship Show at Dallas Burston in the Autumn.  Not only that but we also run an annual Halloween Hunter Trial as well as hosting the BRC FOTH Eventer Challenge Qualifier for Area 5.  

We are extremely proud of our little club and each person who is a part of it, from our members, trainers, venue owners, suppliers and supporters.  CROWN is a big family and we would love to welcome you to join us! 

Lucie Scopes, Chairperson & Teams Manager
Crown Riding Logo Embroidery
Anne providing training
Crown Riding winning big!

Why Crown?

Fun & friendly

CROWN welcomes riders of all abilities, from the beginner to the more advanced rider and also non-riding members who may not ride or may have a youngster and are unable to take part in ridden activities yet. Whatever your circumstance is, there is always something for everyone.

Creative, professional and forward-thinking

We truly believe that there is a place in the local equestrian community for a new forward thinking, creative, fun and professional club. At CROWN we pride ourselves on offering our members support, encouraging them to reach their personal goals and helping them in whatever way we can on their journey to success.

Our wonderful members

As a committee we really value our members. So much so, we think it is so important to recognise individual efforts, dedication and contribution towards the club throughout the year.  At our AGM, these members are individually recognised and thanked with a token of our appreciation for being quite simply, brilliant!

Regular training with experienced trainers

With regular training every weekend and summer week day evenings, we have sourced the best local venues across the three counties with top local instructors who boast a wealth of experience in dressage, show jumping and cross country.

Testimonials

Our History

CROWN began as a small idea on a cold October evening in 2013, sat around a table at a local pub with a bottle of wine.  Back then, we had absolutely no idea what it would later become and grow to be! January 31st 2014 marked the official launch night of CROWN, an unaffiliated riding club set up for riders in the local area who wanted more from a club than was already available out there.  Bursting onto the scene, CROWN quickly established itself as a fun, forward thinking and above all, welcoming club, attracting members far and wide across Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Northants. 

 

In 2015, CROWN was granted provisional affiliation with the British Riding Clubs within Area 5 and gained full affiliation in 2016.  This affiliation expanded the opportunities to our members, providing many benefits and enabling the club to take part in national qualifiers, championships and area team events.  The club has since fielded teams in all disciplines with great success qualifying for many championships in dressage, show jumping and eventing.  In 2017 our Senior 90cm team took the National title at the NAF National Horse Trials Championship as well as an individual win overall by Miranda Heynes.  In 2018, riders from CROWN had a hugely successful season qualifying for every BRC Championship throughout the year.  Senior member Lauren Shelley took the National Senior Individual Open Show Jumping title in both the Winter and Summer Intermediate Championships as well as being part of the winning 100cm along with her team mates Morgan Shelley, Ellen Goodwin and Zoe Young in the Riding Club Eventer Challenge at the prestigious Blenheim International Horse Trials. 

 

In 2016, CROWN was nominated for and won the inaugural Horse & Hound Awards for the NAF Five Star Riding Club of the Year.  This achievement has been the club’s most memorable to date as it was an award nominated by and voted for by our members, friends and supporters of CROWN, not to mention the wider public when it went to national votes.  We were therefore absolutely delighted and extremely humbled to find that CROWN was nominated again for the award in 2017.  Such a huge achievement for a relatively new club!

 

Our club membership continues to grow daily and with it we strive to provide more and more opportunities on and off of horseback.  In 2015 CROWN was approached to provide the Arena Party for the two day Your Horse Live Show at Stoneleigh Park and has since provided this service for the next three years.  It is always a great weekend where our members are able to help with the setup of each arena for each individual demonstration and they have over the years been able to rub shoulders and meet the likes of Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin, Valegro, Mary and Emily King, Ben Hobday, Geoff Billington, Monty Roberts, Kelly Marks and Ben Atkinson with his troop of Action Horses to name but a few! The Club has also for three years provided the arena party for the Eventer Challenge at Blenheim International Horse Trials and regularly helps out at BE and BRC events. 

 

For a relatively new club, CROWN continues to hold its own amongst the longer standing, more established clubs. The committee are committed to maintaining the same values with which CROWN was set up upon whilst always looking to improve, grow and provide opportunities to our brilliant members. As such, CROWN is and will always be, a rather diverse, slightly crazy but wonderfully warm, welcoming and supportive club.