Alan Davies the supergroom picks a horse he needs he might have ridden

Suppose your Christmas stocking contained a journey on the horse of your desires… We discover out which superstars of yesteryear this supergroom would like to attempt

Alan Davies has flown all over the world caring for a few of Britain’s high dressage horses, working for Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin. It is perhaps troublesome to assume you could possibly ever high the nice Valegro, however there’s one horse of eventing royalty Alan would gladly welcome for Christmas.

“It must be my childhood heroine Lucinda Inexperienced’s Regal Realm. I keep in mind seeing him within the 10-minute field at Badminton and he was simply essentially the most unbelievable horse. He was a wry little thoroughbred and was fairly quirky – Lucinda needed to actually work round his quirks to get one of the best out of him. She needed to do her dressage in a leaping saddle as a result of he didn’t like a dressage saddle and issues like that. However he was an absolute famous person and he jumped for pleasure for Lucinda,” remembers Alan.

Regal Realm and Lucinda on the 1984 LA Olympics

Lucinda met Regal Realm in Fontainebleau, the place the previous Australian inventory horse was a reserve horse for occasion rider Merv Bennett on the alternate Olympics occasion in 1980. From right here he returned house with Lucinda and simply two years later, they had been topped world champions. In 1983, they gained Badminton and gained double silver on the European Championships, and the next 12 months they had been a part of the silver medal-winning staff on the LA Olympics.

“I keep in mind at Badminton he tripped on his overreach boots and after that, Lucinda didn’t use overreach boots on the large competitions. I’ve received this factor about overreach boots now – Charlotte likes to make use of boots on her horses to guard them and I’ll all the time say, ‘Lucinda used overreach boots on Regal Realm and he tripped!’ and Charlotte will roll her eyes as if to say, ‘Right here we go once more!’” says Alan Davies with fun.

“As soon as, I used to be driving the lorry again from Aachen and Lucinda had been there commentating. There was an issue together with her flight, so I ended up giving her a carry and we talked all the best way house about Regal Realm and her different Badminton winners – we had essentially the most superb conversations.”

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H&H senior information author

Since becoming a member of H&H in 2018, Becky has coated a broad vary of equestrian information together with welfare issues, veterinary research, FEI Tribunal hearings and street security campaigns. She has additionally interviewed high riders together with Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to call just some. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, in addition to the Royal Highland and Blair Citadel Worldwide Horse Trials nearer to house. She was additionally a key a part of the distant reporting staff for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.