M E E T   T H E   T E A M

Childéric Saddle Specialists

Tricia Bracegirdle
South West, Midlands & South Wales

07886 802 553
tricia@childericsaddles.co.uk

Tricia became the UK distributor for Childéric Saddles in 2010 and is now director of Childéric Saddles UK and her newly formed business CHILDÉRIC Saddles Ireland. She is by Tomé ans age the Senior Saddles Specialist!

Tricia covers the South West, West Midlands solely ans Supports her team throughout the UK. 

Tricia has a marketing background outside the sector. She has competed to Intermediate level eventing, kept horses, and ran her own yard, for many years.  Having worked in the equine business sector for the past 20-years, Tricia understands the pressures of being a being a rider looking to succeed and being a working mother.

Qualifying for the Gatcombe Novice Championships (The Festival of British Eventing) was a personal milestone and to finish without disaster was the icing on the cake.  Dissatisfied with the security offered by the saddle she was using at the time, Tricia set about finding a new saddle which led to a career change and then later meeting Luc...the rest is history, so they say.

Tricia lives in Oxfordshire and has a team of experienced Childéric Saddle Specialists, distribution, marketing, and PR people working with her. Tricia is a hands-on horsewoman who takes a holistic and synergistic approach to saddle fitting, sales, and customer service, but there is no hard sell - that’s one thing she is insistent upon with all her team.
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Helen Dunning
North, North Wales & Scotland

07786 796 457
helen@childericsaddles.co.uk

"I began training with Tricia in August 2013, working with Childéric is the most rewarding and enjoyable job. I feel being able to combine my knowledge and feel as a rider with experience as a saddle fitter works brilliantly when I'm working with riders and therefore offers a unique service."

Based in the North of England, Helen covers the Northern counties, Scotland and North Wales.

Helen has a long and glittering equestrian career that goes all the way back to starting out as a show rider with Team Hollings, where highlights included HOYS and The Royal International.

From there Helen made the switch to eventing, where she went on to represent Great Britain on numerous occasions.  First up was at Necarne Castle in 2006 with Bletchendon Fanfare, then onto the National Pony Championships with Glenayre Bay Surf in 2007 and 2008.  The same year saw Helen finish 10th at the European Championships held in Avenches, Switzerland.

Eventing success kept coming for Helen, first with Mossfort in the Young Rider National Championships, then with Pebbly Flux at the 2010 European Championships in Germany.  From there Helen gained the ride on Keep Your Options Open and together they won the CCI***-S at Gatcombe, the CCI****-U25 Championship and the ProAM pairs with Caroline Powell at Bramham in 2011.

​More recently Helen made the switch to pure dressage and has also competed successfully at Prix St George level, winning the Petplan Area Festival, and finishing 3rd at the National Championships.

Michelle Blake (nee Nichols)
​South East

07896 971937
michelle@childericsaddles.co.uk

Michelle met Tricia in 2014 when she was working as a Dressage rider for Prestige Liveries based at Kilbees Farm in Windsor, and she's ridden in Childeric ever since!  Soon after, Michelle joined Team Childeric on a more permanent basis and covered the South and South East area from 2015 to 2019 before taking some time out to start a family.  Fast forward a year and she's back as part of the team and will resume looking after part of the Home Counties, South and South East.

Michelle started riding at age 3 and has worked in the equine industry for over 15-years.  Her passion for dressage started at a young age with ponies, whilst training with Ian Woodhead.  Michelle moved up through the levels, competing at Prix St George level as a Young Rider.

Michelle started her professional riding career as a working pupil for Ferdi Eilberg and has been lucky enough to work for, and train with, several Olympic riders and top trainers within the sport.

Perry, the rather handsome orange pony, has been with Michelle since a 5-year-old and is currently competing a Small Tour level and is working towards Grand Prix.  Together they have had many successes at Regional and National Championship level.

Elliott Reeves
​Ireland

+353 87 248 7633
elliott@childericsaddles.co.uk

Elliott joined Team Childeric initially as the Showjumping specialist but has since taken over the Ireland business.  With his wealth of knowledge and experience in the sport, he will be able to deliver a bespoke and trustworthy service to both horse and rider. 

Elliott started Showjumping competitively in his early teens, going on to jump in the UK on the National and International circuit. He has results up to 1.50m including Young Rider classes and was clear and placed in the infamous Hickstead Speed Derby in 2014. In 2017 Elliott made the decision to sell his string of horses in the UK and make the move to Australia to travel and ride. His success most certainly continued down under, winning numerous Grand Prix’s, and jumping clear in his first World Cup Qualifier. A highlight for Elliott was placing 6th in the Australian Senior Title and gaining his full MER qualification for Tokyo 2020.

​Elliott has always loved the education of young horses and training riders through the levels, finding great satisfaction in their progress.

He is very excited to be able share his knowledge of saddle fitting with riders of all disciplines throughout Ireland.  

Chloe Astill
​East & East Midlands

chloe@childericsaddles.co.uk
​07766 727350

Chloe has been extremely lucky to work with multiple industry professionals and has also run a small, successful event yard at her home base where she has evented both her own and owner's horses up to CCI4*S. Eventing has been Chloe's passion and she feels very lucky to have been able to mould a career within the sport. 

Chloe has retrained multiple racehorses from the Alan and Anne Potts Syndicate (owners of the “Sizing” horses). She has chosen to keep “Sizing Gold” which she is am aiming to still compete at grassroots BE level.   Her former Advanced event horse is now enjoying his later years competing at Elementary level British Dressage with Regional qualifications in their sights. 

Whilst managing her own and others horses to the highest level of the sport, Chloe has found it to be paramount that you know that your saddlery equipment is to a high standard across the board - which is when she came across Childeric.

Most recently, Chloe has worked for a reputable feed company (Blue Chip Feeds) as part of their sales team. This has allowed her to offer a high level of guidance and support to a variety of customers which she aims to bring with her to Childeric.

Katie Eaton
East Anglia & Essex

kate@childericsaddles.co.uk
​07748 928561

Having joined the team as a Master Saddler and Qualified Saddle Fitter, Katie will be able to draw on her 20 plus years experience, to provide a top level service, with a holistic and honest approach. 

Katie will also be trained, in the workshop in France, to do panel alterations here in the UK, making our service quicker and more responsive to our customer's needs.

Riding has always been part of her life.  Katie started riding at the age of three.   She grew up on the family farm, where they ran a small livery yard.
She competed with the local Pony Club, on her array of hand me down ponies! 

On her current horse, Denver, she has competed successfully at Affiliated showing.  They have been to the Royal International Horse Show three times.   They are now starting their first season of British Dressage together , as well as training her ex racehorse Mujaarib. 

Katie started to learn the saddlery trade at the young age of 13.  She then went on to do lots of training, including the Millennium Apprenticeship scheme, aimed at training the saddlers of the future.

At 21, she was a qualified saddler, then a few years later she gained her SMS qualified saddle fitter qualification.

She subsequently was upgraded to Master Saddler in 2017, being one of the youngest at that time.
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Katie has run a successful business since 2001, and is very much looking forward to this new venture with Childeric.

Andrew Reed

andrew@childericsaddles.co.uk

Andrew joins Team Childeric as Office Manager, a key supporting role to Tricia and the rest of the team.

Based in the North East of England Andrew's work roll encompasses various aspects of the business, the most important being that of supporting role to ensure that we have an efficient, professional operation.
Andrew is a point of contact for any matters of concern and believes that customers satisfaction a very important part of our work, if there is ever an area of concern then he endeavours to resolve it to the customer's satisfaction.

Andrew has had an interest in riding from a very early age and likes to spend most of his spare time eventing. This year having qualified for the Badminton Grassroots Championships being his most successful achievement to date. 

More recently Andrew has taken up running and has competed two Great North Run half marathons and is currently training for a full marathon.

Jess Bracegirdle

Jess rode when she was younger and went on to work for Charlie Hills for several years.

Jess joined the Childéric UK team as Personal Assistant/Driver to Tricia, following moving in with her partner.  Jess now ensures that the team is organised and enables Tricia to respond to clients whilst on the move.

Luc Childéric - Sellier

Being passionate about the equestrian world, Luc Childéric embarked on becoming an established master saddler in 1978.
In 1991, he created the `Manufacture Childeric` which produces and markets beautiful and bespoke, made to measure, saddles. It is by being in constant contact with sport horses and their riders that Luc forged, and obtained, his expert eye. When watching horses moving freely he understood the necessity of making a saddle that would enable the horse to move as loosely and unrestrainedly as possible.  

He creates a variety of saddle styles that allow the riders to achieve a perfect balance between equilibrium and comfort.  They are made to free the horses’ movements and actions,  and are designed for all equestrian disciplines. Riders then discover that working with their horse is much more about giving than receiving and their communication becomes as graceful as a dance.