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‘He has this incredible power’: meet international grand prix dressage horse Everdale *H&H Plus*

Polly Bryan Polly Bryan

    • The impressive black stallion wowed crowds at Olympia in 2019 and is set to be a contender for Britain’s Tokyo Olympic team this summer. Polly Bryan finds out more about him

    Need to know

    Age: 12
    Breeding: Lord Leatherdale x Negro
    Studbook: KWPN
    Breeder: Piet Kluytmans
    Rider: Lottie Fry
    Owner: rider and Van Olst Horses
    Greatest achievements: grand prix freestyle winner at Compiègne CDI3* 2019; third in World Cup qualifier with 82.62% at Olympia CDI-W 2019; ninth in World Cup qualifier with 78.25% at Amsterdam CDI-W 2020.

    Rider Lottie Fry

    “Everdale loves to work and is one of the most trainable horses I know. He would happily work all day and he never says no. He also has this incredible power but at the same time he is so light to ride, and you can feel his elegance – he is like a machine underneath you.

    “I’m so excited about his future, because he is good at everything. I’ll always remember riding his first inter II and even back then he scored almost nothing below a 7.5. Now, at grand prix, he has had a few nines and they tend to be mostly for the piaffe and passage, and his changes.

    “He knows he is a king on the yard here in the Netherlands – he has a double stable, which we call ‘the apartment’, but he is really sweet and cuddly, too, and he loves attention. He isn’t stallion-like at all in the stables, although when we take him outside he tends to get a lot more excited and he may show you that he is a stallion then!

    “My favourite memory with him so far has to be nishing third in the World Cup qualifier at Olympia 2019. The whole show, the amazing crowd, being back in England – it was just so much fun. Everdale really rose to the occasion and proved himself – he loves a big atmosphere, and it is his favourite thing to show off with lots of people watching him.

    “We didn’t do too much with him in 2020; we just took it a month at a time. The Amsterdam World Cup qualifier in January 2020 was our last international show, but we did a national grand prix in the autumn and scored 77%. Everdale is definitely on top form.”

    Groom Claire James

    “Everdale really is an angel – he is so well behaved and not like a stallion at all to deal with at home. He’s no trouble to take away to shows either. He eats everything, drinks everything, and we have no problems with him. He loves his carrots and apples and we always make sure we take a good supply with us.

    “He is a very affectionate horse, and loves cuddles; he will happily bury his head in you. I call him Flower as a nickname – I don’t really know why but it stuck.

    “We tend to mix up his routine quite a bit at home. Lottie decides what each horse is going to do each day, whether that is training, going in the paddock, or on the treadmill or horse walker. Everdale is great with all of it. He’s very intelligent and a really fast learner; he works things out very quickly and doesn’t tend to get stressed about much.

    “I’ll never forget seeing him perform at Olympia and doing his freestyle for the first time. It was just fantastic. His owner Anne van Olst and I are always more nervous than Lottie – I’m like a proud mother and I stand at the edge of the arena crying!”

    Judge Andrew Gardner

    “Littie is an extremely talented young rider who is on an exciting journey, and that, coupled with the exceptional talent and future prospects of this young up-and-coming grand prix horse, is very exciting.

    “I judged her and Everdale at Olympia in 2019, and that sort of electric and demanding environment where everything is on top of you is a very big challenge, but both of them were exemplary.

    “It was a very high-class competition as well, so for her to do so well on home territory, and also to be third behind Charlotte in the world – adds another dimension of excitement.

    “Lottie appears to be the sort of rider who revels and succeeds in the pressures of such an atmosphere, and this bodes well for her future at the top of the sport. She’s just like the two riders who beat her in that regard, in that she seems to be somebody you can rely on to come up trumps when the pressure is on.”

    Ref: 18 February 2021

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