‘Yesterday, I fell off!’: 14-year-old rider turns luck around to win on LGCT debut

Fourteen-year-old Annie Salthouse had the full gambit of experience on her Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) debut in London when she fell off her ride Fame in Saturday’s CSI2* 1.15m class, only to turn her luck around with an accomplished victory in Sunday’s final.

“I had a really bad show to start with, I had poles and I fell off him in the ring, so I needed to redeem myself,” said Annie, who is lives in Hertfordshire but trains with Richard Howley in Yorkshire.

“Yesterday I just didn’t trust him, I can go so negative on him, but he’s incredible. He reminds me of a pet Labrador or something, he’s the sweetest thing.”

Annie started riding the 14-year-old gelding, one of Richard’s former CSI5* speed horses, in September but they didn’t quite gel until this summer, when they claimed a victory in the amateur 1.10m final at Bolesworth.

“It was a bit sticky at the start,” said Annie, who is home schooled so she can be flexible with her riding commitments. “He’s a sensitive horse and difficult at times but when we got to Bolesworth it all clicked.

“He’s a very quick horse but he feels like he has a pony stride.”

‘You don’t get time to think’

This CSI2* 1.15m final was held under the unusual “immediate jump off format” — similar to a two-phase, except there is a gap and a bell between rounds, and the second half of the course is then jumped again.

First-to-go Grace Wallace set a long-standing lead with Eau Claire V, before she was usurped in the final throes by Imogen Beecroft (Chablis).

Four riders from the end of the class, Annie cut a swathe through the leaderboard, storming into a 2sec lead.

“The format isn’t quite as good as a normal jump off but you can jump round and see where you need to go, and then you stop and let them have a breather,” she said.  “I was very nervous but the best thing about it is you don’t get time to think about going into a jump off and going fast, you just have to go for it!”

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