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Experiences of Fellow Riders to Brighten Your Day Experiences of Fellow Riders to Brighten Your Day

Anne-Charlotte Brieke

Anne-Charlotte is a high-level
showjumping and eventing rider.
She started riding when she was
a little girl, and has represented
Colombia in important internatio-
nal competitions such as the Pan-
American Games, Central Ame-
rican and Caribbean Games, and
Bolivarian Games.

“My parents gave me my
first horse when I was nine
years old. I was the only one in my family who rode. No one else in my
family is crazy about horses. At that time, my parents had some friends
who were polo players. When they saw my big passion for horses and how
much I enjoyed riding every weekend, they told my parents that they had
a horse they couldn’t use because they had raised him too late to play polo.
The horse was called Kaiser. He was a very young horse who had no ex-
perience at all because he was practically newly raised when we met, and
my parents paid only 650 bucks for him. As I didn’t have much experience
either, at the beginning, there were days when I could fall off Kaiser three
times in a row. In spite of all the falls, little by little I started knowing Kaiser
better, and he was also learning what the life of a show jumper was like.
Kaiser did not have much potential and was quite limited compared to the
horses of the other children competing with me in the pre-children and
children’s categories. The truth is that we got eliminated every other show,
and my mom always ran out to hide and cry when we were eliminated
(in other words, my mom cried during almost every show). I loved Kaiser
very much and I was happy to own him anyway. I changed my trainer a
thousand times, and I must admit that owning Kaiser wasn’t easy at all. In
fact, sometimes it was frustrating because I was tired of falling off so many
times. When you are going to purchase a horse for the first time, it is im-
portant to be very aware of what it takes to own a horse. A horse is not only
an animal that you have to take care of every day, but it also implies a high
economic expense and commitment to be there for him all the time. When
buying a horse, it is essential to get good advice in order to buy a horse that
is as useful as possible for whatever you want him. If you are a rider who
wants to learn, then it’s best to buy a horse that has a lot of experience to
teach you, and that makes your experience as best as possible.”

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