British showjumper Emily Moffitt has taken on the ride of top international jumping star Copain Du Perchet.
The 12-year-old stallion had won six CSI5* classes with former owner and rider, Cian O’Connor, since he took over the reins in January.
He was previously successfully partnered by Switzerland’s Edwin Smits and Dutch rider Rudie Wallerbosch.
The stallion, by Conteur, has been bought by Poden Farms and arrived this week while Emily was competing in the Rome leg of the CSI5* Global Champions Tour (GCT).
Emily told H&H she is “very excited” to have him.
“He arrived only a few days ago — I was away at Rome so I couldn’t wait to get back to see him,” she said.
“I’ve only ridden him once at home so far and he was perfect —very calm and not spooky at all.
“I figured at a new place he would be a bit loud or spooky and he wasn’t either.”
She added he has “settled right in” and his big personality means he is “very fun to have around”.
“Whenever I go outside to see the horses he is the first one to put his head out to say ‘hi!’.”
Emily said she is planning to compete him at Oliva Nova in Valencia, Spain, next week (3-8 October).
“We’ll see how that goes and go from there,” she added. “I’m very excited to see what the future holds for us.”
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Emily has dual British and US citizenship and splits her year between Poden Farms’ Florida and UK bases.
The 19-year-old decided to switch from representing the US to ride under the Union Jack at the start of this year and made her British team debut at the Florida leg of the FEI Nations Cup series in March.
She helped the British team to victory at the European Championships for young riders in August with Hilfiger van de Olmenhoeve and has had many other international successes with her string this year.
These include numerous wins and top-10 placings, including a win on home turf in a CSI2* class at London’s GCT leg last month.
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