Solo Bachelorette 13 years gelding by Welt Hitt x Ferro owned By Emily Cousins, doing Grand Prix Level.
I bought Solo from Holland in 2005 when he was 6 years old and I was 16. He was the first young horse that I had ridden and handling such a sensitive, sharp horse was a whole new experience for me. I had to work very hard at home to build a relationship with Solo but after about 18 months of training our confidence had grown and we competed in our first Junior International competition. Following this we moved up to Young Rider level and at the start of 2008 we won our first International Young Rider Competition on the Sunshine Tour in Spain. At the end of that year we qualified for the Young Rider World Cup Final in Frankfurt – which was an incredible experience for both of us!
In 2009 we were selected for the British Young Rider European Championship team, and in 2010 we competed in our first Senior International competition at Small Tour level. As Solo and I progressed through the levels his talent became more and more evident, and I started to realise that he had the potential to make a very good Grand Prix horse. After some more training at home, and a bit of a break from competition while I finished my final university exams, we started at Intermediare II and Grand Prix level. Solo and I have now done 3 Grand Prix tests, with two scores of over 70% at CDN, and we have recently returned from competing in our first International U25 Grand Prix in Vidauban, France. I hope to compete Solo at both International U25 and Senior Big Tour competitions this year, and I am very excited about what the future holds for us! Solo is a lovely, talented horse who is amazing fun to own and ride and, as the first horse that I have taught to Grand Prix level, he is very, very special to me!
Emily Cousins