10 minute coffee with Lucinda Fredericks

Lucinda Fredericks in action across country

Introduce yourself
I guess I am best known for my famous little mare Headley Britannia, who together with me won 3 of the world's total 6 CCI4* FEI events, these being Burghley 2006, Badminton 2007 and Kentucky 2009. Headley Britannia is the only mare to have ever won all three events. I believe Headley Britannia and I still hold the record for the best ever finishing penalty score at 4* level of 32.3.  I’ve ridden for the Australian team twice at the Beijing (with Headley Britannia) and London Olympics (with Flying Finish). 

Where are you based? Tell us a little about your location and facilities.
I am based on the Salisbury Plain in Little Cheverell just outside of Devizes in Wiltshire.  Rosegarth, my yard, is a great location to be based, with easy access to many of the top eventing sites as well as fantastic off site hacking both on and off road.

Lucinda pictured with her two office staff - Emma Charlton,
her marketing manager (left) and PA Deb Faulkner (right)

Our facilities include a brand new 30 m x 60m outdoor school (March 2017) - stabling with rubber matting - wash area with state of the art solarium - lunge pen - covered horse walker - rower and rub show jumps - gated access and an alarmed tack room - full onsite security system.  We currently have Canadian riders Rebecca Howard and Kelly McCarthy-Maine based on site with me.  We always have space for riders in residence, short or long term placements for short term training needs in a run up to an event where extra tuition is wanted.

What is your main competition discipline and at which level(s) are you involved?

3 Day Eventing

Tell us a little about your top horses

Lucinda with Headley Brittainia

Headley Britannia (Brit) - “Brit was the best horse I could have ever hoped to have ridden and I owe her so much.  I am so thankful for the partnership I had with Brit, she was one in a million.  She was small but had such a huge heart.  She was a true professional and made my career what it is, and without her I wouldn’t be where I am.  She was my best friend.  She touched so many people’s lives and always brought a smile to everyone’s face”.
Brit’s competitive spirit, manoeuvrability, sheer guts and a will to win propelled her to the top of the equestrian sport of eventing.   She is one of only two horses to have won all three of the top four-star events (Badminton, Burghley, and Kentucky Rolex), and the best ever eventing mare in history. Brit retired from top level competition in 2012 but enjoyed a win at Express Eventing in 2013. She sadly was put to sleep on April 1^st 2014.

The next two horses - Britannia’s Mail and Little Britannia are 'Brit Legacy' elite syndicated horses by Olympic Show Jumper Jaguar Mail out of triple 4* winner Olympic Medallist Headley Britannia. 

Britannia’s Mail (Marley) - is a confident, genuine competition horse with a professional, focussed attitude at all times.  He has a relaxed, affectionate and kind temperament which mean he is able to combine his eventing with stud duties. Britannia’s Mail continues to prove himself to be outstandingly tough and sound and he is progressing in his international career to meet his parent’s successes. 

Britannia's Mail

Lucinda with Little Britannia

Little Britannia (Millie) - is developing into a true professional competition horse. Millie is delightful to work with, she is a taller, rangier version of her mum but so much like her in so many ways.

Lucinda with Little Britannia

What have been the highlights of the current season so far?
I  haven't started the season yet, but highlights include Ellie going out to Bovington for her first BE 90 on two ponies and of course the recent birth of the first of our two foals expected. The first born foal is by In Fashion Too (Flicka) and out of Britannia's Mail (Marley). She has fantastic breeding as her 'grandparents' include Prada, Oslo, Headley Britannia and Jaguar Mail, so this an exciting prospect to be followed closely in the future. 

What other major successes have you enjoyed in your equine career to date?

Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky wins with Brit as noted above.

With whom do you train regularly?

Grant Wilson, five times a year for jump training.

 

Lucinda teaching, which she does every day

Which three tasks do you carry out EVERY day on the yard?

Teaching, managing a plan for the horses for the day and managing my staff (I’m very bossy!)

How your horses benefit from the use of ArcEquine’s microcurrent technology and why do you feel it is an important element in your success?

The four programmes you can use work from initial pain relief through to repair and on to maintenance.  It is so simple to use and the horses don’t notice it, as it’s completely non- invasive.  It’s also not just about the horses; I use it regularly myself and having used it more than any other equestrian due to injuries, I am 100% confident that the ArcEquine does a fantastic job to speed up the healing process. In all my previous injuries, my recovery has been a lot quicker than expected.  I can highly recommend it.

What happens next?

Millie and Marley are going to go up to 3* this year, and possibly 4*.  I’m also producing home bred young stock, as well as investing in building a training and development programme on site for riders.

What is your favourite meal?

Home made belly pork with lots of crackling.

What are your most worn items of clothing – but please, no brand names!

Anything warm and fluffy when its cold – I don’t like being cold.

Snow or beach holiday?

Beach

Dogs or cats?

Dogs (I have a Jack Russell called Cola)

And finally – Tea or Coffee?

Coffee, but in the evening I prefer a long weak Gin and tonic or a good sauvignon.

'Incurable' hind suspensories and Badminton beckons

ProJo finally able to use his natural power and athleticism

Purchasing ProJo as a four-year-old in 2010, Barbie Clarkson rode him twice before prolonged snow forced a lay off, but back into work, he was always a little inconsistent and so began a six year journey that was to encompass both the despair of a very poor prognosis and finally, the elation of qualification for the BE100 Misubishi Motors Cup at Badminton.

By ProSet, the eyecatching and athletic 17hh gelding ProJo is known as Joe and Barbie shares the ups and downs of their story in her own words...

Joe seemed always to be a little bit ‘on and off’, never nasty or difficult, but a bit nappy or grumpy, although we couldn’t work it out and thought perhaps that as a rising five-year-old coming back into work he was testing our patience. However he progressed to ‘planting’, so we started to think about pain, but still weren’t sure; was he just being a bit difficult? We thought about gastric ulcers and he was affected, so treated, after which we expected his behaviour to improve, which it did a little. So we got going and even did a little bit of eventing.

He was always happy to jump, but on the flat found it difficult to produce power. When he was six in 2013, we had started novice level eventing, were doing novice level dressage and had even done a few elementary tests, but he never progressed as expected and things ‘sneaked up’ on us over time.

It was the following year, in 2014, that we didn’t get a good start to the eventing season. I had planned that we’d do three BE100s, then go novice, but events were cancelled because of bad weather. Our first run ended up being novice level, at which the show jumping was on long, lush, wet grass and he said ‘no’ for the first time, resulting in us being eliminated.

We came home and two days later had a session with my dressage trainer. She eventually said - “he’s not sound behind”, but I couldn’t feel it. She said she’d watched him many times in training and had thought there was ‘something’ for a while, but couldn’t pinpoint it.

Our vets nerve blocked him and confirmed lameness in both hind legs. So he had around eight weeks off, because there was no obvious sign of anything wrong. At that time I really didn’t want to know my very lovely horse was lame and maybe would be written off like others before him!

The rest didn’t work and back in work, he was quite difficult, so we did a ‘bute test and he was fine, which confirmed a pain issue and the investigations became more serious. An MRI scan revealed a problem with his suspensory ligaments, high up in both hind legs, where the ligaments attached onto the hock, but without external swelling or heat. Conformation was not the reason, treatment options were limited and he ended up having the whole of his seven-year-old year off.

Veterinary options were shock wave treatment or surgery, but success was unlikely. We talked about ArcEquine as we’d got to the point where there were no other options, and started using an ArcEquine unit during a 10-week period of box rest.

Walking him out started at week two – initially for 10 minutes a day – but Joe was terrifying and eventually I started to ride my daughter’s pony and lead him on a chifney, which worked because whenever Joe misbehaved, the pony would bite him, which gave me control! We broadly followed the ArcEquine rehabilitation plan and built the walking up to 30 minutes daily before I got back on. He has benefited from use of the ArcEquine unit ever since and fortunately we have never looked back and not had another major injury.

The following season as an eight-year-old we did only flatwork and dressage, progressing massively at that point. He was hacked out at home and we were really careful and paranoid about everything to do with his limbs; he became a proper diva! When you’re on that ‘last chance’ kind of thing, it was all about keeping him properly fit, getting him to carry himself properly, whilst ensuring he was never overusing any particular structure in his body.

As a nine-year-old we progressed to doing 1 x BE90 to test whether he would be sound! He was very silly, loved his jumping and it told me he was still keen for the job and really happy. He was sound the next day and stayed sound.

Confidently schooling over BE novice fences

It wasn’t until 2016 when Joe was 10 that I thought I would try out a little more, but not until I knew the ground was going to be OK.  I planned not to do many events, but following pre-season training with Blyth Tait, at which we ended up jumping 1.30m despite my slight lack of confidence, then a confident cross country session with Les Smith over novice fences, we decided to start at BE100. We finished fourth, so he was definitely back.

I was very careful all season, using iced boots to cool his ligaments along with the ArcEquine after every event and for maintenance each month. We had three novice runs and as I messed up, not him, we had no novice points and were still therefore eligible for the BE100 Misubishi Motors Cup Regional Final, which I entered.

That event was at Aske Hall and the ground was appalling. Jumping in ‘clart’ and slippery conditions is horrible and you just get to know over the years that there are too many things you can break in a horse for no reason and you don’t want to risk them. Fortunately, none of that happened and amazingly, we qualified for Badminton!

Our vets could do nothing for Joe, but have been supportive of my use of an ArcEquine unit and I do swear by it for his recovery. It would be interesting to re-do the MRI scan and see the ligaments now, as when I ride Joe he feels like a very, very different horse and he can use himself in a completely different way, producing power and hence able to work much better in every discipline.

ArcEquine supports Lissa Green's eventing success

With a family background in eventing that would be the envy of most riders - Lissa Green's mother Lucinda Green was a six-times Badminton winner and her Australian father David Green a dual gold medallist, but until fairly recently, riding was more of a hobby and not a full time occupation, as Lissa herself explains......

"I only turned to riding and competing full time in the last couple of years but I always had one horse to event in the summer holidays between term time at school and university. My biggest highlight would be as first reserve for Team GB in the 2007 Junior European Championships; I remember being more than ecstatic when I got that phone call!

There are always low points with horses, sadly it comes with the territory, most notably when a horse is injured. When they hurt themselves it is truly horrible.

Lissa Green and Malin Head Clover

Secondly would be when I get injured, as I did last August when I had quite a nasty fall, as my then new ride Malin Head Clover misjudged the smallest fence on the course. Luckily he had a soft landing on me so was absolutely fine, but I came off a little worse with four fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, damaged rotator cuffs in my shoulder, multiple fractures to my jaw joint and my chin bone was split into two bits at the front. I had my chin plated and spent a week in hospital and hoped my collarbone would mend.

Five weeks later an X-ray revealed it hadn't and needed to be operated on, but I wanted to finish the season and although I was sore, it was worth it. The horse I fell on did two Intermediates and was 7th with a double clear on our last run.

I then had my operation and straight away my collarbone was so much more comfortable – with the bonus that I didn’t have to spend a winter perhaps worrying about how my nerves would be when I got back on Malin Head Clover. To top it off we managed three top 10 placings out of those last five competitions, so maybe I should fall off more often….

I have to say my parents have been a huge influence; they both treat me as an individual and always help when I need it, but don’t interfere too much. I have taken inspiration from so many amazing horsemen, it is such a privilege to be constantly around the calibre of rider that is competing today.

When it comes to fitness, I have a very strict schedule and I think plenty of road work is very important to keep hardening up the tendons on their legs. I also think feed is hugely important, as what you put into your horse has a massive impact on helping them perform at their best.

In addition, I rely on a brilliant little microcurrent unit called - an ArcEquine - for both my horses and myself. It is ideal to have around if any horses acquire an injury as it helps to heal more efficiently and in a fraction of the time; I love it. I used it on myself when recovering from my operations and when I went back to the physio's, they couldn't believe how good my shoulder was and how far ahead my recovery was. Definitely thanks to this super machine!

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