Andrew Nicholson makes winning return to competition
Andrew Nicholson has made a winning return to competition following a serious cross-country fall last season.
The top event rider rode six horses in open novice and open intermediate classes at Aldon (18-20 March).
Andrew won with Perfect Stranger (pictured, top) in the open intermediate and achieved top 20 placings with all of his rides.
He now has his sights set on Badminton (4-8 May).
Andrew is entered for the Gloucestershire four-star on his London 2012 ride Nereo, three-time Burghley winner Avebury and Qwanza, who has completed Luhmühlen and Kentucky CCI4*s. Nereo and Avebury are his first-choice rides.
“I will only go there if I feel confident,” he told H&H.
“The [horses] feel very good — they always do at this time of year. They are going very well, they are a bunch of lovely horses.
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“I have cut down a bit on the number I would normally have.”
Andrew sustained a serious neck injury at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe on 9 August last year.
He was riding Cillnabradden Evo in the CIC3* when the pair fell at the final fence of the cross-country.
Andrew was taken to hospital in Swindon before being transferred to the John Radcliffe in Oxford.
The six-times Olympic rider had an eight-hour operation to repair fractures and stabilise his cervical spine.
Related articles:
- Andrew Nicholson has neck surgery after Gatcombe fall
- Andrew Nicholson in hospital after cross-country fall at Gatcombe
- Andrew Nicholson reveals he could have been paralysed by neck injury
Cillnabradden Evo was uninjured in the fall.
“My surgeon, Mr Jeremy Reynolds, told me that the injury I sustained to my neck would have caused paralysis at the time of injury, in 98% of cases,” he said last August. “I was extremely fortunate this did not happen.”
Just five days after the accident, Andrew was walking unaided and had a full range of movement.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.