Ready Teddy
WHAT are the essential qualities of a top event horse? Speed, stamina and bravery, sure. But they must also move well enough to score excellent dressage marks – and have the trainability to do so – and they must be impeccably careful over the coloured poles. While many event riders today perhaps are prepared to compromise a little on the first few attributes to ensure the latter three, we should never discount the thoroughbred.
As the World Championships at Pratoni, Italy, appears on the horizon, it was after all a horse bred to race – Ready Teddy – who secured the individual gold medal there the last time a worlds was held at the venue in 1998. And at that point, he was the reigning Olympic champion.
“‘Ted’ was an obvious athlete. He was careful across country, but he was also brave – and he could move,” says Blyth Tait, who rode him throughout his career. “He had a big trot and was quite capable of producing a top-level test. He was a
