Charlotte is one of Great Britain’s most promising Event Riders, having represented her country on both Junior and Young Rider teams – most notably winning team gold and finishing 4th individually on Little Beau at Blair Castle in 2007.
Charlotte graduated from Edinburgh University in 2011 with a 2:1 in English Literature.
She has been placed consistently, including finishing 9th at Blenheim in 2011 and 5th at Luhmuhlen CCI**** with the homebred Out of Africa in 2012. Despite being a true British rider Charlotte is keen to remember her Scottish roots, and indeed she has been ranked the No. 1 Scottish Event rider in the FEI World Rankings for the last two years.
Supported by the lottery funded World Class Development program she now has her eyes firmly set on the 2016 Olympics. Charlotte is excited to write for Eventing Nation as she prepares for Badminton just a few weeks away. Thanks for writing, Charlotte, and thank you for reading. For more, visit her website. All photos used with permission.
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From Charlotte:
We are now just weeks away from Badminton, and Out of Africa (Zulu) is raring to go! I’m just praying that we get a bit of nice weather, as it would be such a treat not to have to ride around there in snow/hail/ whatever else the big man up there keeps throwing down on us. However, one can’t be too choosy and just to get there, without any major complications (personal or event logistical) would be hugely exciting, particularly for my Mum, who actually bred Zul. As you can imagine therefore, he is pretty much the orbit for every member of our family’s world – my sisters’ may dispute this! – but basically if Zul’s not happy, times are very stressful. Last year he was 5th at Luhmuhlen 4*, so we’re hoping to go one better than that…well, that would be nice! The great thing about our sport though is that you just never know what’s going to happen, and there really is all to play for at every Event.
This year hasn’t started quite as well as I had anticipated, mainly due to the fact that I’ve had no full time groom, since December in fact, which has proved relatively stressful. I’ve had a mixture of good and (very) bad temps to tide me over, which has resulted in a good deal of ‘experience of human nature’ – if one is to look at the plus side. All in all I am literally counting down the days until my new girl, Daisy, starts and I can finally hand over some yard responsibility to her, and catch up on some very overdue paperwork.
In terms of the equine side of ‘the Team,’ I’m in a bit of a lull until after Badminton, which as it happens is no bad thing. In an alternative effort to get my hands on a potential 2016 horse I have created what is called an SEIS scheme, which has basically involved raising £150,000, half of which is offset against any investor’s tax bill (it is a government supported scheme). This money will fund ‘White Heather Eventing,’ which will buy and sell a number of horses over a 4 year period, with the aim of keeping one particularly special horse to compete in the Rio Olympics. The big excitement of this month is that all bar one of my syndicate slots have been taken, so hopefully before long we will be able to get out and start looking for some talented steeds!
Between now and then though we have Badminton to look forward to, so fingers crossed Zul and I stay in one piece, and I will look forward to updating you on the outcome!
C x
