Sadie Smith once planned to sell Swanmore Dantina – known at home as Dia. As a young horse, she wasn’t flashy, she was unassuming – and at first, Sadie wasn’t sure the pair of them would ever click.
Yet that “ordinary” horse has turned into one of Britain’s brightest rising dressage stars.
“I remember I was quite disappointed when she arrived,” Sadie recalls with a laugh. “She was straight-legged and she was always so fat – it was so hard to keep weight off her!
“She’s always been kind, but in the beginning, my legs sat right in the middle of her belly, which irritated her.
“Ellen Glover, who also used to work at Carl’s, would ride her for me because she was taller, and Dia always went much better for her. So I wasn’t sure she was for me.
“People were interested in buying her, but she had a splint and struggled with the vetting, so she didn’t sell.”
It turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to her.
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“I ended up turning her away for four months. I told myself, ‘You have to ride her when she comes back,’ but I wasn’t exactly excited about it. Then she came back a different horse.
“She was so clever. She picked up suspension in the trot quickly because she’s so naturally balanced.
“She’s never had huge paces, but her temperament is perfect – she never spooks, she’s calm, and she just gets on with her job.
“And she really does love it. I know a lot of people say that, but she genuinely tries her heart out for you.”
Dia helped Sadie add six national titles to her tally, score international victories, and earn her first senior call-up for Britain at the Rotterdam Nations Cup.
“We’ve obviously still got a lot of improving to do,” Sadie says, “but to be where we are now is all I’ve ever dreamed of.
“It’s so lovely to have a horse like her, that I don’t want to overdo it and then spoil her.
“You could quite easily try to do too much too quickly with her, so I’ve got to be careful – that’s fairer for her.”
But Dia’s story is only one part of Sadie’s journey. She didn’t come from money or a horsey background.She started at a riding school, working weekends in exchange for lunchtime rides.
And not so long ago, she found herself back at her mum’s house, having sold her car and wondering if she’d ever make it to the top of the sport again.
“I was a bit lost – I didn’t know what to do. I’d never really imagined doing my own thing,” Sadie says.
Little by little, Sadie rebuilt her career, and Dia has been at the heart of that comeback.
To read more about Sadie’s career and the horses and people at the heart of hercomeback, pick up this week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine, in shops from 10 July.
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).
