As much as I love what I do–watching and writing about some of the best horses and riders in the world, and their connections–I have to admit to still being a little starstruck around Lucinda Green. Like probably every pony-mad girl of my age, I grew up totally enamored of those distinctive yellow colours blazing around cross-country courses. I read her books avidly and cheered her on, either in person from amongst the crowds, or urging her on silently at home from the sofa watching Badminton on television. I must have done something right, because Lucinda is still the only person to have won the event six times, on six different horses! It’s a huge thrill that I get to chat to her every now and then, and I’m very grateful that she spared me some of her very scarce time at home recently to tell us what she’s been up to.
Lucinda had just returned from a fairly successful trip to Italy, coaching the Austrians at the Vairano CIC,
“It went very, very well; they were fab, they’re a really great lot. I don’t know how they do it, they’ve had to come out of six months of almost hibernation, and ride like demons in the dressage and the cross country. They found the show-jumping a little more tricky, and lost quite a bit of ground there, but they did really, really well in the other two phases. One of them won the CIC 2* by virtue of a brilliant dressage, which she’s always had, but the cross country was always providing one stop because the horse is a very careful, spooky warmblood, and this time she got off her backside and did a really fantastic job and won it by about a mile! So that was a great start but we’ve got a lot of work to do to catch anybody in what I call the exalted atmosphere of Western Europe.”
Lucinda took on the training of the Austrian Team earlier this year, and has had two training sessions of two days each so far leading up to Vairano,
“They’re all based in Austria, and there’s far too little money or free time for them to move. They all have to work really hard to afford their eventing. It’s a totally different take on the sport to what we have here in England. They do it off a shoestring and there’s just no way they could move lock, stock and barrel to England. One of them might from time to time, but they couldn’t all do it. “
Lucinda is still mulling over whether the Austrians will field a team at next year’s Olympics in London,
“I don’t know if that’s the right move or not. We were discussing it at length every night in Vairano over lots of apple juice or whatever we all drink (!), and the idea is to get as many points as they can in various CCI’s and CIC’s through the year, because all the points together create a strength for a place for an Austrian – it doesn’t have to be the one that got the points. The team, if it went, would only be able to qualify by virtue of being in the first two other than the ones who qualified at the Europeans, and that’s a huge, tall order with France, Italy, Holland and Spain all trying to qualify. I just don’t know if we’ve quite got the horse power to get ourselves qualified as a team, but we might give it a go; we’re just waiting to see how things pan out as to whether we try to go as a team, or whether we try for individual places.”
Compared to the depth of talent in England, Austria is definitely not as fortunate,
“We’ve got five riders that can do three star level, four men and a girl. However two horses are 18 years old, and a third horse is really difficult in the temperament. Another one is 15 years old, and there are a couple of other good, young ones that are possibly going to be quite talented, certainly one of them, but it’s still very early days in their three star world. It’s great fun but it’s certainly not handed on a plate. “
“Because they asked me!”
It seems like a huge undertaking, and I wondered if she’d also considered coaching the US team, or even the Australians?
“It flashed through my mind, (the US coaching position), but it would be a commitment second to none. The Australians didn’t ask me, the Americans you needed to ask them, and for me to do that job would be way beyond my reach. I don’t want to be involved in one country to that extent. I love helping but I don’t want to be totally involved in the way that you have to be – that’s probably the biggest job in the eventing world, what Mark’s done, and whilst I briefly flirted with the possibility of doing it with someone, we very soon decided not to. “
This way, Lucinda still has some time to spend on her lovely horse O The Bill who’s been steadily improving, and don’t rule out a return to the very highest levels for Lucinda – I may yet cheer those yellow silks on at Badminton again!
“Oh bless his heart, he’s the best fun, I do just love him! I was away for four days in America, came back and rode him wednesday morning, and then flew off on thursday very early to Italy, came back and got on him at about 2 o clock this afternoon, (monday), and it was just the most beautiful day, and I thought I’m the luckiest person in the world. I just so love my riding, and my horse and my eventing, and it’s made all the better by the fact that I can’t do it very much! I really would hate to give that up.”
“I really don’t know what capabilities Bill has; he’s one of those horses that when I started out in intro with him two years ago he took 40 time faults to get round, because he’s so unbelievably spooky and untrusting, and I thought it was just the most exciting thing ever that he’d actually got round! The only rule I’ve had with him from day one is that he doesn’t stop, and so far he’s stuck to that rule; he’s stopped 30 metres out and said he can’t possibly go near whatever it is, and eventually he’s crept up and jumped it practically from a standstill! You certainly don’t want that sort of thing happening at an advanced fence, he tried it on three times at Belton and eventually I whacked him so hard that he never looked back, so I think I’ve just got to be a bit tougher on him, because he does know, and he’s very very sound cross country.”
“He’s not yet had a penalty cross country in his life, so whilst he goes on stepping up the ladder, I’m right there with him. He’s a little bit lacking in quality and therefore he hasn’t got much turn of foot, and if he has stamina, that I don’t know yet, because he’s only just started to get fit. I think not having a turn of foot when you’re as careful a jumper as he is, isn’t the end of the world, and he managed to get the time at Belton, and was the only one in his section to do that. It was an absolute first for him because he’s been struggling for a year now to make the time, and suddenly he was the fastest in his class, but mind you if anyone had seen us at the last fence they would never have taken a lesson from me again!”
So when Lucinda’s at Badminton this week, will she wish she was riding?
“I think that every year, and at the same time every year I think, Thank God I’m not! At my stage in life, when you don’t ride as much so your reactions have slowed down, you’d have to have a fantastic horse to take you round that course, because you’re not in the groove anymore. The only thing that would take me round that course again is just a partnership that is infallible, and if this horse (Bill) every got that far, I would be absolutely over the moon, but he’s got a very, very long way to go. He’s got a huge mountain to climb because he lacks quality”
In the meantime, Lucinda trains a few riders, including Izzy Taylor, and will be busy helping them,
“I don’t coach that many riders, but I love to walk the course with anyone who wants to walk it with me. It unnerves me a little, because not having ridden there in such a long time you miss some of the idiosyncrasies of that course. If I do walk it with anybody I always tell them to walk it again with someone who’s recently done it because I’m a long way out of it now; whatever I may stand back and see might be useful, but I think you want to be in there with somebody who’s very contemporary, who’s a rider there.”
It may not be too many years before Lucinda fulfills that role and walks the course as a rider again. I’d like to thank her again for her time, and her refreshing openness, I look forward to more discussion soon. Thank you for reading and Go Eventing at Badminton!
