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Tales from Tokyo: ‘The Olympics is our last show before my horse retires’

Pippa Roome Pippa Roome

    • The Ukraine’s Inna Logutenkova retired her 18-year-old ride Fleraro after their grand prix dressage test today at the Tokyo Olympics.

    “This is our last show together and I’m so thankful that he has brought me here and we’ve done our test,” she said.

    “He is such an experienced horse and knows the job, knows the test and he is like, ‘Ok, I’ll do it for you today, one more time’.”

    Inna has had the Flemmingh son, who is owned by the LLC Vlan Group, nine years and also rode him at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. She says the secret of his longevity is that she has kept his work schedule light.

    “In my system, once horses are at grand prix and have done some good shows, I only ride them a little bit – maybe 30 minutes in a session. It’s mostly just for training, not that much exercise. Today I did 15 minutes of trot and canter and then I just went into the arena.”

    Inna Logutenkova has been based in Belgium for seven years and has a small string of just three horses. Fleraro will stay with her in retirement.

    “We just built a new paddock for him, a big one,” she said.

    Inna, who also rode at the Rio Olympics on Don Gregorius, said riding at the Olympics is the “best of the best”, but in many ways, qualifying is more stressful than the actual Games.

    “When you are getting qualifications, there is more tension and each show has to be 100%,” she said. “Here, I just try my best and it is what it is.”

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    Pippa Roome
    Pippa Roome

    H&H magazine editor and eventing editor
    Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
    Pippa Roome

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