Charlotte Dujardin said after her win in the London Horse Show dressage freestyle last night that she doesn’t know whether she will compete Gio again, but she is excited to watch his partnership with new rider Annabella Pidgley develop.
The 10-year-old Olympic and European medallist Gio was sold to the Pidgley family in October for 17-year-old Annabella to ride, but Charlotte has taken the reins again in competition this week at the London International Horse Show. Gio is still stabled at Carl Hester’s yard where Charlotte is based and Annabella is training with Charlotte on him.
“I don’t know what the plan is as such,” said Charlotte after her London Horse Show dressage test yesterday. “I wait and see, I guess, and I’ll be sharing him with Annabella.
“I’m not really sure how it’s going to work. We haven’t made a plan as yet. It’s all happened quite fast.
“Annabella has been riding him up to here. It’s actually really magical to watch the combination together – it makes me quite emotional to watch because he is still a very young grand prix horse and she’s learning all the grand prix stuff.
“Between the two of them, she swings her legs, he does all the changes. She turns him, he does a pirouette for a nine, it’s pretty incredible. She piaffe passages him, and it’s really exciting.
“I’m so excited for her. She’s a really good up-and-coming rider and next year it’s going to be very exciting.”
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