‘If you can dream it, you can do it’: amateur rider makes eventing World Championships debut with diminutive home-bred
Hanne Wind Ramsgaard at the eventing World Championships 2022
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
For Denmark’s Hanne Wind Ramsgaard, just being in Pratoni for the World Eventing Championships with her home-bred gelding Amequ Torino means the world. Amateur rider Hanne bred the 10-year-old Toulouse gelding out of her own mare Staugaard’s Flying Colours, opting to breed from the Cosmeo mare before she began her competitive career.
“You don’t ride them much when they’re three years old so I bred a foal [from her], and then I went to the world young horse championships on her when she was six. And that shows something about the mind because you [often] can’t do that if they have already bred a foal and are a year behind.”
Hanne explains that Amequ Torino takes after his mother when it comes to his brain and attitude. “He is a very positive little horse, and he is smart-thinking and quick. I love that,” she said.
Dressage is not this gelding’s strongest phase, but Hanne was very pleased with his performance in the Pratoni arena this morning, where he scored 44.7.
“Dressage is definitely not his favourite discipline but he was very sweet in there actually. This is his first five-star programme ever,” she said of the gelding, whom she says is only about 16hh. “He’s a special little one – I love him.”
At home in Denmark, Hanne juggles her eventing with being mother to a young son, Robin, and a full-time job; she is trained as a carpenter and works in a kindergarten, “fixing everything”. She rides in the evenings after work, and is aiming her other horse, six-year-old Linn, at the World Young Horse Championships at Le Lion D’Angers in October.
In recent months, Hanne has also been busy helping to raise money to help fund the Danish riders’ trip to these championships, and she is excited to be able to help raise the profile of the sport in her country.
“Eventing is not the biggest sport in Denmark, but it is growing,” she explained. “And if we want the sport to grow, even if we’re not coming here to win the medals, we need to show that this is actually possible. If you can dream it, you can do it.”
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