Alex Bragg and Quindiva. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Though Britain’s Alex Bragg didn’t quite sneak into the upper echelons of this morning’s dressage leaderboard at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials, he was still delighted with 13-year-old Quindiva (Quintender 2 – High Roller) as she began her sophomore appearance at the level. They put a 39.7 on the board, which sees them sitting sixteenth currently — and, explains the rider, represents just another brick in the foundations of her education as she steps into the gap left by former partner Zagreb.
“She made a few mistakes,” he concedes. “But she’s been getting better and better all year about learning, and although she’s sensitive outside the white boards, she’s been more attentive inside them. They weren’t giving away the marks, and those top guys on those good horses are still struggling for really good marks, so my coach said, ‘just go in there and ride for everything, because you’ve got nothing to lose’. Maybe I put a bit too much pressure on her and then she was quite alert and it got to her, especially in the second half of the test. But, you know, it’s a learning curve and yeah, I’m a little bit disappointed — but only because I think I’m responsible for her in there. Maybe I just asked a bit too much for where she is right now — but I’m a competitor, and she’s a competitor, so you can’t blame us for trying!”
Quindiva made her five-star debut this spring at Badminton, and though Alex ultimately retired her on course in the tough conditions, the experience, he says, was formative for her.
“For me, it’s a partnership,” he says. “Badminton is another big arena, with a big atmosphere, and she was on the Friday as well — it’s always busy on the Friday. But she went in again, and she was better with the cameras here — she hated the cameras around the arena at Badminton. It’s not something they see that often, that close. But when she got in the white boards, she was good, and it’s given me confidence that actually, I can get a performance in the arena one day that I do get at home. She’s not a big mover in the dressage, so I do have to give 100% — I can’t just sit quiet and keep getting sevens, I have to ride like mad if I’m going to get a seven!”
Alex Bragg and Quindiva trot up at Burghley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
This year’s Badminton will live on in the collective memory of the sport largely for its extraordinarily tricky conditions and ground, thanks to the appalling spell of weather that’s plagued Britain this year. Alex was aware of the difficulty faced by his previous competitors out on course, and so he stepped back and made a tactical decision: he’d start, give the mare a good experience, and pull up at exactly the point he felt she could finish on a high.
“I left the start box because I felt it would be a good experience for her with the crowds,” he explains. “I went out with a plan at Badminton, because it wasn’t painting a great picture, if I’m perfectly honest — I think maybe we could have done a bit more to paint a better picture of our sport. That might be a bit controversial, but I think we should have — and so I made the decision that I was going to gallop round and leave it on a really good note for her, because I didn’t want to break her heart at Badminton on her first go. She has several more seasons left in her, and the better performances are still to come. I felt she jumped around the first half like a pro, and she made it feel easy, so to pull up when she was still fresh enough that she enjoyed herself, to trot back to the stables, to come away — she felt she had done a short format Badminton, and that was wonderful. And she came out for her next performance thinking it’s all great, and and I’ve kept her spirit, so I feel I learned a lot from her and it was a great experience for her, and I’ve still kind of nurtured that confidence in her. I felt that Badminton was a real positive for us as a partnership.”
Alex’s decision to put his hand up at fence 18, the MARS M before the Lake, was initially met with some confusion by viewers: from the ground, it looked as though the mare was still full of running. But it was that call that earned him justified praise for putting his horse first on the day — a decision similarly made by a number of riders in the moment, including Emily King and Richard Jones.
“You can definitely feel the tiredness before anyone can see the tiredness because as a rider, you can feel how much effort you’re having to now introduce into the round, rather than the horse taking you,” Alex explains. “From what I’d seen in the morning I had that favourable position that I thought, ‘do I want to be one of those or not?’ and I decided not to — so that’s why I made that choice. Hopefully we won’t have another year like this, weather-wise, and next year will be better and everything will be more fun.”
This week, at least, we’ve been blessed with some truly excellent going at Burghley, and now that his dressage is behind him, Alex is focusing on the big challenge to come — and on developing his partnership with Quindiva even more.
“I’ve not had a walk around the cross-country yet, because, you know, early Thursday dressage; only one horse — I’ve got plenty of time left, and what’s the sense in losing a night’s sleep before you have to?” he laughs. “But I’ve seen some of the fences just ambling around, and it’s a true five star here. It’s beautifully dressed. My mare is a good cross-country horse and super jumper, and the ground is amazing in comparison to what we’ve had for the spring. Exactly. That was almost painful to ride the horses on, whereas this is going to feel like a real treat. So I’m really looking forward to Saturday, and hopefully things will shuffle about a little bit and we’ll be playing for something on Sunday!”
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