Suppose your Christmas stocking contained a experience on the horse of your desires… We discover out which superstars of yesteryear this supergroom would like to attempt
Alan Davies has flown world wide caring for a few of Britain’s high dressage horses, working for Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin. It may be tough to suppose you could possibly ever high the nice Valegro, however there’s one horse of eventing royalty Alan would gladly welcome for Christmas.
“It must be my childhood heroine Lucinda Inexperienced’s Regal Realm. I bear in mind seeing him within the 10-minute field at Badminton and he was simply essentially the most unimaginable horse. He was a wry little thoroughbred and was fairly quirky – Lucinda needed to actually work round his quirks to get the most effective out of him. She needed to do her dressage in a leaping saddle as a result of he didn’t like a dressage saddle and issues like that. However he was an absolute famous person and he jumped for pleasure for Lucinda,” remembers Alan.
Regal Realm and Lucinda on the 1984 LA Olympics
Lucinda met Regal Realm in Fontainebleau, the place the previous Australian inventory horse was a reserve horse for occasion rider Merv Bennett on the alternate Olympics occasion in 1980. From right here he returned residence with Lucinda and simply two years later, they had been topped world champions. In 1983, they gained Badminton and gained double silver on the European Championships, and the next yr they had been a part of the silver medal-winning crew on the LA Olympics.
“I bear in mind at Badminton he tripped on his overreach boots and after that, Lucinda didn’t use overreach boots on the massive competitions. I’ve acquired this factor about overreach boots now – Charlotte likes to make use of boots on her horses to guard them and I’ll at all times say, ‘Lucinda used overreach boots on Regal Realm and he tripped!’ and Charlotte will roll her eyes as if to say, ‘Right here we go once more!’” laughs Alan Davies.
“As soon as, I used to be driving the lorry again from Aachen and Lucinda had been there commentating. There was an issue together with her flight, so I ended up giving her a elevate and we talked all the way in which residence about Regal Realm and her different Badminton winners – we had essentially the most superb conversations.”
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Credit score: Jon Stroud Media
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