INTERVIEW “We got him right, but his legs couldn’t cope with the bigger drop fences, so we stuck to flatwork,” says Maria. She went on to be selected for the ı998 European Pony Championships with him. “We were told we were on the team. There was a vet check half an hour later and he failed the trot-up. I went from a high to a low, but that’s horses. We ended up going as a family with the caravan to Le Touquet to watch anyway,” she recalls philosophically. Inspired, Maria made the team the following year and ended up representing Britain at all the under-2ı levels, collecting two pony European silver team medals, as well as two young rider European bronze team medals on the way. Moving up to seniors presented no problems and she enjoyed competing for many years at top level with Two Sox, known as Ed, until his retirement at the national championships last year. “My most special moment was winning the national championships with Ed in 2008. He was on such top form as we had been out to the Beijing Olympics as reserves. We had done all the preparation; before each test, we had to get him plaited up and in competition gear. Until one hour before the start of the class, I could have been asked to step in. We were mentally so psyched up and super fit,” says Maria, who competed at the nationals at grand prix level with Ed from 2006 through to 20ıı. Of course, Maria is extremely proud of her two senior silver team medals, too: “Winning on home ground at the 2009 Windsor Europeans was amazing. The 20ı0 World Games were pretty special, too. We were not expected to pull it off and beat the Americans on their home turf,” says Maria, who was devastated when the horse that had been her partner through all these years had to be put down just two weeks into his retirement after shattering his pastern while turned out. “It has been a difficult time, but it is quite nice to do small tour
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| ISSUE 4 2012 | BR ITISH DR ESSAGE
LEFT: Maria with
Lynne Crowden’s 10-year-old stallion, Woodlander Rockstar
Maria’s horses WOODLANDER WAVAVOOM
− a six-year-old 16.1hh Britishbred stallion (Weltregent x Longchamps), owned by Lynne Crowden of the Woodlander Stud. WOODLANDER ROCKSTAR − a 10-year-old 16.2hh British-bred stallion (Rotspun x Sao Paulo), owned by Lynne Crowden of the Woodlander Stud. U ROCKSTAR − an 11-year-old 16.2hh Dutch-bred gelding (Jazz x Oprah), owned by Camilla Anderson. MARIA’S MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS
1998-2005 except for 2003: Selected for British team for Pony, Junior and Young
Rider European Championships, winning two pony European silver team medals with Manitu and two Young Rider European bronze team medals with Don Perry and Topscore 1999-2001 & 2003 British Under-21 Champion 2006 Reserve for Aachen WEG with Two Sox 2007 British Grand Prix Freestyle Champion on Two Sox 2008 Reserve for the Olympics with Two Sox, British Grand Prix Freestyle and overall National Champion 2009 Windsor European Championships team silver medal with Two Sox and National Medium Champion with Woodlander Rockstar 2010 Kentucky WEG team silver with Two Sox and Advanced Medium Winter Champion with Woodlander Rockstar 2011 British Intermediate I Freestyle Champion with Woodlander Rockstar, runner-up with Woodlander Wavavoom to Farouche in the Five-year-old Potential International Dressage Horse Final and have a break from the intense pressure of top-level competition,” says Maria, who is working her way back to grand prix level with Woodlander Rockstar. “You hope you get another superstar, but you can’t make it happen,” says the self-confessed workaholic, as she talks unconvincingly about taking time out while she is relatively low on horsepower to build a life outside horses. “I tried working in a pub a couple of years ago to meet
some non-horsey people, but it was such hard graft with the riding as well. I might need to do a gap-year adventure,” she says, but quickly reduces this ‘year’ down to two weeks. In fact, Michael is the only one that has spent any length of time away from home when he was a working student for top international showjumper Tim Stockdale for ı2 months. He was offered a job working for leading German showjumper Hauke Luther after a couple
of three-week training stints there, but the timing was not right. Michael then accepted a job to become a rider for a stud in France. “The job fell through and that was when Dad asked me to sit on a couple of horses for him and suggested I might like to try working here,” he says. Ferdi was also the one who suggested Torino – known as Cracker, as in Christmas Cracker, having been deposited on the doorstep by dealer Andrew