Olympic showjumping tales – Caracole De L. a. Roque’s bitting predicament

You don’t win medals with out remarkable consideration to element to find exactly what makes your horse tick. Karl Prepare dinner, a part of the US silver medal-winning Olympic showjumping crew in Paris 2024 with the finely tuned Caracole De L. a. Roque, could also be within the working for person honours having jumped transparent within the qualifier on Monday, 5 August.

This was once the 3rd transparent of the week for Karl and 12-year-old Caracole De L. a. Roque, who got here off the bench as an alternative when Kent Farrington’s journey Greya was once withdrawn with an hypersensitive reaction factor.

Caracole was once ridden by way of Julien Epaillard till remaining season, the place she was once ridden barefoot or with plastic footwear, and with a singular bitting procedure that Karl has perpetuated. For all her flatwork and warming up, Caracole is going in a Swales pelham, however simply earlier than leaping Karl switches her right into a hackamore bridle.

“I don’t have any rideability in any respect within the hackamore, however that’s what she likes to leap in,” says Karl. “The Swales is only for after we do our flatwork, and I put the hackamore in on the remaining minute, then do actually not anything – I slightly even stroll – till I select up canter to visit the primary fence. One way or the other it really works for her to leap round on this and I don’t know why.

“Because it truly doesn’t assist me and her at the flat, that might be a destructive reason why to make use of the hackamore there.”

Caracole De L. a. Roque “took care of me” in Olympic showjumping

The Zandor x Kannan mare is electrifying to look at, and Karl was once inspired by way of her power ranges on a sizzling day in Versailles.

“She had much more power [than in the team competition]; she feels more potent and extra tough,” he says. “I overcooked the flip in opposition to the tip of my spherical, however fortunately I’m in this horse, and he or she took care of me so we had been ready to return house transparent.

“That is what she likes to do.”

You may additionally be interested by:

H&H options editor

Martha is an skilled journalist who’s mad-keen on horses and canine. Her reporting CV comprises the Paris Olympics, Eu championships, Aachen Global Equestrian Competition and Global Cup finals. After rising up with various liver and white springer spaniels, she loved 14 years with two rescue canine. Now, her consistent spouse is Fidget, an especially lively and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on subjects as various as a most sensible horse’s clone to the most efficient GPS trackers for canine, in addition to equestrian and rural issues for Nation Lifestyles, The Box, The Occasions, The Spectator and The Telegraph along Horse & Hound.