Samantha Cesnik and Graftango. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
The perfect preparation for a first Badminton for Australia’s Graftango, who carried Samantha Cesnik to equal 25th on 36.2 at MARS Badminton on Thursday, was a sun-soaked sojourn in St Tropez.
“She had a glorious winter in the South of France with my dressage coach, Brianna Burgess,” confesses Samantha, 39.
The pair arrived in France from Australia 10 days before Pau last year, and found themselves fairly literally under water.
“It was a big ask – she only had 10 days between getting off the plane and trotting up, and then it rained – proper ‘British’ mud – and she’d never seen anything like it. So it was more a baptism by water than fire!” Samantha says.
They completed, with a slow clear across country and something of a cricket score in the show jumping, and then the 14-year-old Grafenstolz mare was given “a long break”.
“Brianna brought her back into work for me and kept her going until I arrived in February. That decision paid off – we avoided the British winter, and she had a prep that was more like what she’s used to.”
Since February they have been based at Chris Burton’s former yard – now the home of the Prices – Chedington in Dorset.
“This spring has been much better. Everyone says the ground is a bit firm, but for us, it’s perfect. Even the weather feels a bit like home – warm and lovely,” says Samantha. “We’ve had a magical prep. Chedington is a brilliant facility, and luckily, we have similar micro-facilities in Australia. So it meant the horse could keep a very consistent program, which is definitely paying off now.”
Samantha has been training with former Badminton winner Sam Griffiths, a fellow Aussie, and Britain’s Nicola Wilson.
“I’ve known Sam for a long time, and I met Nicola earlier this year in Australia,” she explains. “It’s been amazing to have that kind of support on British soil. It’s really helped me hit the ground running and find my feet.”
She was “really happy” with Graftango’s dressage test at Badminton, saying: “I mean, she’s from Australia – we don’t get crowds like this! So to go in and keep it together is excellent. She’s not always the easiest to stay with, and she hasn’t necessarily put her best foot forward in dressage since arriving in the UK. But today, she gave us a little glimmer of how good she can be, and I’m really proud of her for bringing it out when it mattered. For me, being a first-timer here, it’s a big deal too. We both managed to keep a lid on it, so I’m relieved it’s over, but very pleased.”
Samantha, who spent some time at PSI in Germany and competed to a high level in dressage in Australia before “parking” that sport to concentrate fully on her eventing ambitions, got Graftango as a nine-year-old with the aim of doing some CCI3*-Ls.
“She’s a good jumping horse—not always the most careful or technical—but I needed one to help me get qualifiers and mileage,” she says. “Her breeder had competed a little, but being a breeder, sometimes you don’t always click with what you produce. They never really got along, and she was for sale for a long time. She’s a tricky mare and very particular about her people.
“After about nine months on the market, the breeder called and asked if I’d come try her. I did, and I just felt like we clicked—like she kind of chose me. Then COVID hit, which gave us time to get organised, and we started building from there.
“She’s 14 now but still pretty green. She did her first three-star about two and a half years ago. But she’s a warrior. She goes out and looks for the flags. She tries her heart out.”
Dressage at MARS Badminton continues today, and you can follow along using the link list below.
MARS Badminton Horse Trials: [Website] [Entries] [Timetable] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [XC Maps] [EN’s Coverage]
EN’s coverage of MARS Badminton Horse Trials is supported by Kentucky Performance Products. To learn more about Kentucky Performance Products’ science-backed nutritional support products, click here.
