Irish team rider Susie Berry reflected on the surprising positives of being forced to take time off after a fall last year following her dressage test at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event on Thursday.
Susie sustained broken ribs in an accident at Blair Castle Horse Trials last August and missed the rest of the season.
“I had a big break and it was nice in a way – I got off the hamster wheel,” she said. “I went to the shows with my other half Max Warburton and I actually think I learned more from not riding and just taking a step back and taking it all in a little bit.
“Sometimes you go from here to Badminton to Bramham and wherever else, and you never get a chance to take a step back and look at where you’ve been and what you’ve achieved. I think that really forced me to do that. So I think, as negative as it was at the time, I think in the long run, it’s been a positive to have time off.”
Kentucky Three-Day Event: Susie Berry on Clever Trick
Susie’s ride here at Kentucky is the 12-year-old mare Clever Trick, owned by her rider, Anne Marling and Sue Wilkinson.
“She likes doing lots of work and she’s energetic every day,” said Susie after the pair’s dressage test. “She’s the same in my arena at home as she was in the test.”
Susie says it’s no secret that Clever Trick doesn’t love dressage and she was fairly pleased with her test, which scored 36.4.
She explained: “I’m sitting on a bit of a Ferrari and it makes it a bit difficult, a little bit of damage control. But I thought her trot work was lovely and she was really trying to keep a lid on it. Just sometimes a little bit more energy comes out than what’s required, but it’s only through trying that she becomes a little bit tense. I can’t really expect any different, but that is why she’s so amazing at the cross-country, touch wood.”
Susie Berry said that she did a little flatwork and the arena familiarisation on Wednesday afternoon, but aside from that she has mostly been cantering or hacking Clever Trick since she arrived at the Kentucky Three-Day Event.
“It’s such an amazing place for that kind of work so it really suited her. The more I do, the more tense she becomes so in a way it’s just accepting that this is a bit of a tricky day and it’s not the be all and end all for the rest of the week,” she said.
Looking ahead to the cross-country, Susie commented on Derek di Grazia’s track: “It’s big. I was expecting it to be really different to at home but it is has quite a UK feel to it, which is nice. It’s not something crazy and different but there’s a lot of water – she sometimes is a little bit pokey at the first few water fences so that’ll be interesting to see how she copes. It’s all there to be jumped and there’s nothing horrendously awful, but there’s a lot to do.”
Susie said it is an amazing opportunity having owners who wanted to bring their horse to Kentucky and her goal ahead of “hopefully quite an exciting year” – meaning a shot at the Paris Olympics – is exposure and experience.
The 28-year-old Northamptonshire-based rider has been selected for the past two senior championships, helping the Irish team to Olympic qualification at the 2022 World Championships with Monbeg By Design and finishing 16th at last year’s Europeans on Clever Trick. She has a strong string of horses in contention for Paris.
“I don’t really say it out loud very often, but I’d love to get to the Olympics,” she said. “Whether it’s with Clever Trick or another horse I wouldn’t really mind. But it’s an exciting year either way and there are lots of other shows to go to if the Olympics doesn’t happen.”
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