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An Inspirational 500-word story from dressage rider and trainer Sara Jane Lanning on finding her unexpected dressage superstar. One day whilst on a busy teaching day, the owner of a livery yard told me she needed to sell a horse and did I know anyone who may be interested? He would be cheap. I had ten minutes to spare between yards so told her to bring the horse out to show me. I watched him trot across the diagonal and I think my jaw hit the floor! I returned the very next day to ride him and agreed then and there to buy him with no vetting!
A week later I started my mad dream of trying to get him through to the Nationals as I thought he could win! I took him to a show and got my first qualifying points.
That horse was Zoa (show name Mi Amigo) a then 12-year-old enormous Danish gelding who had just come back into work after 6 years off. He had had an operation for kissing spines, having two spinal processes cut right off.
At 12 years of age he was a weird mixture of strong but green, only knowing how to do basic walk trot and canter. He was very opinionated and very tricky at a competition and to travel. I had to time my arrival at a venue ready to tack up and get straight on and could never leave him unattended. This meant that I could never visit the scoreboards or the burger van, catch up with friends or even go to the loo! None the less we qualified for the regionals but a week before I had a call from my stepmother in California that my father was dying. I rushed out there to spend his last few days with him, leaving my wonderful other half Andrew and good friend Suzi to keep him lunged as we had no turn out due to waterlogged fields.
On my return Zoa was a superstar to carry a very teary rider around three classes at the regionals just a few days after Dad’s death, winning two of them and gaining his golden tickets to the Winter Nationals.
At the championships at Hartpury he was terrified and as I tried to get around the arena before the bell went for his first test I wondered how on earth I was going to get him around the test. The atmosphere in the beautiful Hartpury main arena was electric and I don’t think I have ever sat on a horse so scared.
Luckily his first class was the freestyle and as soon as he heard his music start to play I felt him take a breath. He floated around that arena perfectly in time with his music to win on an incredible 77%. I think Dad was smiling down on me.
The very next day in a straight class with no music he was back to being terrified and I was at the very bottom of the class!
For the next six years, we got to every summer and every winter National Championship. Many placings later his next highlight being a 3rd in the gala night Prix St Georges Championship in 2019.
Sadly this year just as we had been selected to represent Great Britain at Keysoe CDI and were about to sew on the Union Jacks, he suffered a career-ending injury and has now just spent this summer in the field. However, we have amazing memories and a National title as well as 9 Regional titles and also won the PSG Music Championship in 2018 and the Inter 1 Small Tour Championship in 2019. Memories that will last forever.
Thank you Mi Amigo you truly are ‘My Friend’. An inspiration that you can have success on a low budget with huge determination and don’t turn your back on an older greener horse!
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