Blog: Famous horses I'd love to ride

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and to be honest, this list could be exhaustive if I really let it, but I've somehow managed to limit myself to four horses, which is nothing short of incredible considering the amount of time I spent googling this, trying to narrow it down!

1. Valegro

Seriously - just look at that extended trot! I think it'd be harder to come up with more reasons as to why you shouldn't want to ride him rather than why you would. I suppose one of the reasons (and this appeals to my inner pony kid) is that he is literally one of the best looking horses on the planet. Look at that elegant head, that muscular neck! Those floating hocks and well-rounded quarters! I bet he is an absolute drink on a stick to sit on, presuming of course that you can get anywhere near him with his millions of pounds price tag. And if you really did need any convincing, then Charlotte could just whip out her two Olympic gold medals and wave them in your face. Any horse that can do that is worthy of appearing on a list like this, quite frankly.

2. Star Appeal

Now I've made no secret of the fact that Mary King is my equestrian idol, and have also documented how I suddenly became a starstruck twelve year old girl all over again upon meeting her at Burghley (I'm not linking to the entry; it was embarrassing enough admitting it the first time around), so it was pretty safe to assume that I'd pick one of her horses in this list somewhere. I had one of her books as a teenager and was pretty smitten on both King William and Star Appeal, but Apple just about edges it for me. I'm a sucker for a good looking bay, particularly one that can win Badminton, but the story that really sells it to me is the one about him breaking his leg and having to stand in a cast for six weeks, and then on the day that he was due to have it off and be allowed to put weight on it, they got back to his box to find he'd snapped his ties and was rolling around in his stable, broken leg be damned...now that is my kind of horse! I would have chosen Imperial Cavalier, particularly after seeing his very amusing staring session at a giant horse poster he'd already seen three times at Your Horse Live, but that would be far too obvious after Valegro, so Apple it is.

3. Theodore O'Connor

I have to confess that I didn't know much about Teddy until later on in his career, only a year or so before he had his tragic accident that led to him being put down, but from the second I found out that a cheeky and incredibly talented 14.2hh chestnut gelding was being aimed at the Olympics and four star events, I fell in love. I am much more of a pony girl than a horse woman, and would take a nippy little 14.2hh over a huge striding 16.2hh horse any day (Valegro the obvious exception), and that is exactly what Teddy always seemed to be. Who knows how far he could have gotten if his life hadn't been cut short in such an unfortunate way? He was definitely the little pony with the heart of a lion.

4. Milton

I used to have posters of Milton all over my bedroom wall when I first became interested in horses, despite him having been retired for about two or three years by then, and my friend was so mad on him that I remember even buying her a Milton video from the Robinson's catalogue for Christmas one year. Even better, I believe she still owns it! She was always into her big greys, whereas I was cheeky chestnut or bay ponies, but Milton had such a presence about him that is rarely equalled. It takes a special kind of horse to become the first horse outside of horse racing to win £1 million in prize money, and I can only imagine what it felt like to point a horse of his calibre at a jump.