Delighted to see Horse Weigh Ambassador, Harry Meade, taking a clear win in the CCI4*-L at Montelibretti, Italy on Grafennacht. A horse formerly ridden by William Fox-Pitt, her owner, Amanda Gould, and William sent her to Harry last Autumn following William’s retirement from top level competition.
Harry told us about his journey with Grefennacht to take this win:
” In order for us to do a five-star together, we first had to run at a four-star long event, the options for which were few and far between – if we are to go to a spring five-star our only chance was to go to Portugal or Italy, both of which would take three days to get there.
Thankfully the trip was fruitful – she won the CCI4*-L at Montelibretti, finishing more than 24 penalties ahead of the rest of the field. ”
” It was a long way to go to get a qualification, but it was a useful week in terms of building our partnership and for me to learn a bit more about her. She did a lovely dressage test, then I set out across country just thinking about getting a qualifying result, but ended up letting her stride on as the going was near perfect.”
“Her show jumping has been her achilles heel, and although I had a hypothesis beforehand about how I wanted to approach, it was our first real chance to try out this new approach in competition. She jumped as well as I could have hoped, and she managed to extend her lead even further.”
What was Montelibretti like?
“Montelibretti was a wonderful event. The organisers were very hospitable and I enjoyed seeing a lot of European faces, catching up with old friends and meeting some new ones. Eric Winter designed the cross-country course, and it was a good test for us.”
What was exciting about your trip?
“The strangest moment of my week happened while I was riding in an arena alone, when something unexpected trotted through it. I had to do a double take before realising that it really was a huge male wolf ”
What is next for you and Grafennacht?
“I hadn’t thought further than Montelibretti, but now that we have our five-star qualification under our belts it has given us options. In the meantime she’ll have a quiet week in the field.”
