The tap-dancing horse with a 20-year-old rider make dream Blenheim debut

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Blenheim Horse Trials: Evangeline Gaskell
Evangeline Gaskell and Halcyon Graf jump clear at Blenheim CCI4*-S
(Image credit: Ben Clark Photography)

A 20-year-old who has been riding only since she was 12 made an eye-catching Blenheim Horse Trials debut in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-old horses. Evangeline Gaskell steered Halcyon Graf to a double clear and finished just outside the top 20.

Her cross-country round was fabulous to watch, with Halcyon Graf eating up the ground and jumping boldly throughout. Evangeline admitted that her brakes could be improved, but the nine-year-old looked to find the job easy. Evangeline is trying her ride in a new bit – a double snaffle – and although he was still strong, she came home happy.

Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.