World champion Ros Canter has announced her five-star ride and “Pau specialist” Zenshera will retire from eventing.
The 17-year-old gelding started his British Eventing career with Ros in 2010. The pair were part of the Nations Cup team at Boekelo in 2013, and went on to make five more Nations Cup team appearances.
Zenshera, known at home as Alfie, stepped up to four-star level (now five-star) at Pau Horse Trials in 2017, where the pair were seventh. They went on to complete Pau three more times, placing fifth in 2018 and 2019, and 17th in 2020. They were also ninth at Luhmühlen CCI4* (now CCI5*) in 2017 and third in 2018.
“With Pau about to start, I thought it would be the right time to say that Zenshera (Alfie) is retiring from eventing. Most of you know that Alfie means the world to me and was a bit of a Pau specialist,” Ros said.
“We didn’t buy him to go five-star, in fact we were just happy to make it around a BE100 with two down in the showjumping, but Alfie’s heart always wanted to do more, and so he ended up doing six five-stars, five of which we were top 10. One was while I was pregnant with Ziggy and another was three months after having her.”
Ros said Alfie’s showjumping was “always the weak link” and he was not the fastest, but that he had given her the cross-country rounds of her life “so many times” and always “twinkled his toes” in the dressage.
“He was the horse that made me believe that I could,” said Ros.
The pair completed the CCI4*-S at Aston Le Walls International in May this year, picking up four faults in the showjumping to finish in 34.5 and 26th place.
“At 17 he just started to feel his age this summer, and so after some time chilling in the field, he is back in work and gearing up for a PSG and will start his next career of nannying the babies,” said Ros.
“He is such a pet at home that I hope in a few years Ziggy will get the pleasure of having a few rides. My boy Alfie has done every event with a huge smile on his face. He continues to be a ray of sunshine at Hallington and I’m just so happy that his story isn’t over yet.”
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