A wonder cob who was rescued from a railway line as a foal has been selected to represent Wales at the British Dressage home international next weekend.
Coblet (Galliano Gold Dust) and his owner, farrier Lucy Hamblett, have had an almost two-year break from competition but will be hitting the ground running when they contest both the Midway Championships at Hartpury and the home international at Vale View (3-5 September).
“After Covid stopped everything I struggled getting my mojo back, so we haven’t been out since 2019,” Lucy told H&H. “We had just stepped up to medium then, so we are coming back out at that level — a few weeks ago we went out and got 66%, which is our best score at medium so far and I am really happy with it considering the break.
“We had qualified for Midway Championships at Hartpury next weekend and we adore that show, so we are going to go there and then the home international the weekend after. So, bless him, he has been thrust back in to it but we’ll go to the beach in between and have a bit of downtime and some fun.”
Lucy was working as a horse warden for Cardiff Council when she first encountered Coblet as a three-week-old foal. He had been abandoned on a railway line along with his mother, who had a broken leg but was feeding him and another orphan foal.
When his dam had to be put down, Lucy oversaw Coblet’s care.
“After we picked Coblet up, he didn’t live with us for the first month or two, he was at holding yard. I was treating him there as he was growing up and I spent so long with him and so much time, he was one of the ones I couldn’t bear to see rehomed,” she said.
“He was so weedy, such a runt, we didn’t know what he was going to turn into and we had no idea how he was bred, he just came to be a companion.”
Lucy took Coblet out to an in-hand show, at which he won, and he went on to show under saddle, qualifying for Horse of the Year Show in 2016.
“Technically he is a maxi cob but he is 16hh so he gets dwarfed by all the 16.3hhs,” Lucy said. “We do a bit of showing every now and then but we mainly focus on the dressage now.”
Lucy’s aim is to step the 11-year-old gelding up to prix st georges, and she has already ordered a tailcoat to give her the motivation.
“I don’t want to drill him, he’s a happy horse and I want to keep him happy,” she said.
“Jan Evans, who I am training with, said he is a horse who is always smiling — he keeps trying and trying so I am careful that I don’t push him to much and make sure that it’s fun for him.
“I know he is capable of it — he hasn’t got big scopey paces but can go sideways and do collected work and he can do the line of fours as long as I can get the counting right!”
Lucy said that Coblet is “Mr Consistent” and she “doesn’t have to worry about anything with him” and she is hoping they will be solid team members for the home international on 3-5 September.
“We’ll not set the world alight but if we can put in a solid performance for the rest of the team then it gives the others room to be able to push a bit,” she added.
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