‘Imagine it’s Burghley’? Gemma Stevens goes straight from five-star eventing win to two Hickstead victories
Before she secured her Defender Burghley win with Chilli Knight, Gemma’s husband Gary told her to ‘imagine you’re at Hickstead’ – and days later, she was
In the week after she triumphed at Defender Burghley Horse Trials, Gemma Stevens led two more laps of honour at Hickstead – one with a horse she jumped for the first time days before.
Gemma and Coolnorran Cooley won the Stoner Jewellers 1.20m championship on the last weekend of the All England September tour, from fourth in an eight-strong jump-off. Gemma made the most of the nine-year-old’s big stride and catlike agility to win by almost two seconds.
Gemma said the I’m Special De Muze gelding is usually ridden by his owner Pru Dawes, whom she trains.
“Pru sadly hit her head so isn’t allowed to jump at the moment,” she said. “But I train her so I know him really well; he’s a wonderful horse in every way.”
Gemma paid tribute to Pru’s “amazing job” with Coolnorran Cooley, which has built up his confidence.
“I rode him a couple of times at home, jumped him here yesterday in the back ring and he won, so we said ‘Let’s do it – why not?’” she said. “And he was absolutely fabulous. He’s so easy to ride, so confident and careful, and so much fun.
“It was his first time jumping against the clock yesterday and he loved it, took to it like a duck to water.”
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Gemma also won Friday's 1.40m open with nine-year-old Warrior Special, with whom she won the grade B and C final at the Royal International.
““We’re absolutely thrilled with him,” she said “He’s such a professional and, for a big horse, actually deceptively quick. He answered every question perfectly,”
Before she went in to jump her winning round with Chilli Knight at Burghley last week, Gemma’s husband Gary told her to “imagine you’re at Hickstead”. Asked this time if she had imagined herself back at Burghley, she said: “No, I did not!”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.