Vicky Davis, a competitor at this weekend’s H&H Festival of Eventing, run in association with KBIS, has endured an interesting past few years.
“I had a fall from a youngster three years ago resulting in a slipped disk in my neck and trauma to my left eye, which is being operated on next month,” says the mother of two, who describes herself as “the wrong side of 50”.
“I was told the injury might put a stop to my eventing but then Guss turned up.”
Vicky bought Guss without going to see him two years ago.
“I was tagged in a Facebook post advertising an unbroken Dutch two-year-old by Numero Uno,” explains Vicky, who ran a livery yard in Kent for 18 years before switching to a job selling stock of bankrupt companies on eBay. “He was up in York and I just didn’t have time to go and look at him, so the owner sent me lots of videos and pictures of his hooves. I decided to buy him and he turned up at my yard shortly afterwards.
“He was fluffy, wild and small and it took me three hours to catch him in the stable at first,” laughs Vicky. “He’s quirky but talented. He has a disgusting temper and I have to lull him in to doing what I want him to do and that it has been his idea.”
Vicky has produced Guss to now event and despite doing a quick U-turn when leaving the start box at Munstead Horse Trials recently — “Guss decided he didn’t want to go past some parked cars!” — they have enjoyed a great clear cross-country round in the 70cm class at Keysoe today (27 May).
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“I’m absolutely thrilled with him,” says Vicky. “We got held at fence five for quite a while and the course had plenty to look at, but he was great.”
Meet the rider who has recovered from a broken back to return to competing
Vicky, who trains with Sharon Richardson and James Burtwell, says that she is keen to keep eventing to see how far she can get with Guss.
“In the long-term I will probably move to dressage, but until I’ve got the eventing bug out of my system, I will keep going.”
Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June and follow online at www.horseandhound.co.uk
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
