'I knew he had it in him'

From running late to waking dreams and walk routines, Ros Canter tells the inside story of her Badminton triumph on Lordships Graffalo

- Martha Terry

Delayed departure 

WE left for Badminton an hour and a half late because Jasmine (Pencos Crown Jewel) didn’t want to be caught. She does that sometimes – and then she needed a bath. Like most of my horses, Jasmine lives out all the time because she eats better, whereas Walter (Lordships Graffalo) is in at night because he’s a good-doer.

I had stayed at home so that I could take my daughter Ziggy to nursery, so thought I could get to the yard and we’d be off in 10 minutes, but Jasmine had other ideas! It’s over four hours to drive to Badminton from our yard in Lincolnshire.

Walter was in the farmyard stables as he likes to look out. He spent his time staring at birds on the roof, which entertained him.

WALTER was very fresh when we arrived, so I aborted my first hack on the Wednesday and went for a canter around the warm-up area instead.

Whereas last year he was fresh but settled quickly, this year he was still fresh all through the next day, so I worked him twice each day.

When Walter is fresh and excited he can be a bit inconsistent in his head carriage in the walk. In the stable yard at Badminton there is a small indoor arena, which is very quiet, and so I used this to practise Walter’s walk and halts.

On the Friday evening before his test, I had a lesson with Ian Woodhead, for 35 minutes, where he was producing some very nice work. As his test wasn’t until Saturday evening, I rode him at 7am and went back to the indoor to practise the walk.