'The rest is just a dream'

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to be able to visit Carl Hester’s yard in Gloucestershire (I love my job!).

As a showing obsessive I'm afraid up that up until then I'd never quite been bitten by the Carl bug. Of course, I had a huge amount of respect for him. Both his own medal winning achievements, and the hugely positive impact he’s had upon British Dressage is unbelievable but I'm afraid he didn't quite make me go weak at the knees nor queue for hours to catch a glimpse of him. Sorry Carl!

However, in spending just a short amount of time at his yard and listening to him speak about himself and his horses I quickly became a very big fan.

So how did he win me over? Well, any man with a yard full of horses is always a winner! But, what really did it was just how honest and humble Carl seemed. Of course I didn’t expect him to be a fully blown diva but, let’s be honest, he’s a one of the biggest equestrian celebrities with a huge fan base and commercial deals coming out of his ears so you could forgive him if he was just a little bit!

This is so not the case. As you stand and listen to him talk about his hugely successful horses, and personal career, you can't help but think that Carl still pinches himself from time to time and realise how very lucky Carl thinks he is.

Before visiting, I only knew snippets about the early career of Valegro but Carl told us that, just like with the majority of his other horses, he was bought as a two year old for relatively little money. Carl had neither the means of, nor interest in, buying ready made grand prix horses. He looks for a good walk and a good temperament and the rest is just a dream.

And that was it. That was the phrase that really struck a cord with me. To hear such a hugely successful Olympic athlete say, just like the rest of us, he’s a dreamer. He hopes that by trying to spot future potential and working incredibly hard the dream can pay off.

As somebody who doesn’t have a fortune to spend on horses, and I never will (my current ones make sure of that!), it was incredibly inspiring to hear that someone who has achieved so much, dreams just as big as I do. They’re not machines, so much can go wrong & they’re not all super stars, but if you work hard, who knows what can happen?

I'd love to hear if you too have have been inspired by somebody like Carl. Do you dream of finding your own Valegro?