Getting to Know Ellie Healy… Junior Gold Medalist

Photo Credit 📸 @annafranklinphotography

For anyone wanting to know more about Ellie and her fantastic pony Casper we have quizzed Ellie about her time at Europeans & much more below. She will be working on the SXC stand at Burghley!

Current Horses: Casper aka Midnight dancer

Level currently competing at: pony Trials and 1*

Best 2015 Result: 2^nd individually at the Pony Club Novice eventing Championships
Best 2016 Result: Part of the winning BE100U18 championship team at frickley park
Best 2017 Result: Being selected as a member of the CCIJ* U18 Championship team

Aims for 2018: I aimed to be successful at Pony trials with the main dream Bing the Europeans

Why do you love Eventing?: I guess I love the fact its so hard and barely ever goes right because that makes it the addictive sport jt is because when you do well it feels so amazing because of how hard it is to get right.

What is your best phase as why?: XC because I live the adrenaline and casper is so straight and build it us just so enjoyable and gives me a real buzz!

What is your favourite SXC product?: Apart from my XC colours I love the gel numnahs

Top 3 tips for eventing: 

1.It’s not over until its over so don’t give up if your first 2 phases didn’t go to plan.

2. Enjoy it! Try to avoid getting stressed it only makes things worse.
3. Walk your courses carefully! Speaking from experience it is very easy to miss a fence!

 

How old were you when you completed your first Pony Europeans ? 16

What age were you when you started riding? I have grown up around horses but I got my first pony Maisy when I was 2.

How do you prepare for such an important and testing event? I Just tried to trust that my previous training would be enough as it was too close to change anything once I found out I was going! We just kept up going to the gallows to keep him fit as that is very important.

Do you ever suffer from nerves? If so what do you do to help? I really suffer from my nerves and I have tried all sorts of techniques and I have finally figured out that visualising what I want to achieve and how I will ride certain movements in my test or combinations on the XC really helps me because I kind of feel more prepared

You produced Casper from the start, did you always know you had a potential gold medal winning pony? No not when we first got him but once we started eventing we had a feeling he would be a good pony! We didn’t really know he would trial until we did our first novice because he made it feel so easy which made me confident we could do the trials!

What did it feel like winning gold? It was the strangest feeling as it felt like I had just woken up from my regular dream! I still can’t believe it it’s a dream come true and I don’t think it will ever sink in!

Where do you keep your medal? Currently its hung above my bed but im going to have it framed along with my medal And rosette

What are you plans for 2019? I would like to find a nice horse to move on to over the winter and then slowly move up the levels hopefully to do juniors or young riders.

How did you get into eventing? My mum evented up to 3* and she didn’t stop when we arrived so the lorry was always going to events and so we just followed her foot steps!

Who is your most memorable horse and why? Well Casoer is the ooby of a lifetime and he has made my wildest dreams come true, but I was so nervous when I was little so I wouldn’t have been where I am today without my 13hh pony Eddie who gave me so much confidence and belief.

What’s the most thing you look forward to at Burghley ? I love xc day and the shopping!

If you could give any advice to aspiring young event riders on how to get to represent your country what would it be? Absolutely anything is possible if you really want it! Dedicate all your training to your dream and if you do that then im sure you will achieve it!