Alannah Wagstaff’s passion for a chestnut mare proves infectious
While many horse owners shy away from the prospect of a chestnut mare, Alannah Wagstaff deliberately set out to find one. Great Thing aka ‘Ginny’ – after Harry Potter’s redheaded Ginny Weasley – demonstrated why at the SFHJA 74th Annual Charity Horse Show $40,000 Grand Prix, when she cleared the jump off to land a place on the podium, much to the crowd’s delight.
“The best feeling last night was when I landed off of the black double and all I had was the last line and I could hear the crowd screaming ‘Go! Go!’ And that was just like an out of body experience,” said Alannah of her jump off round, vying against six other competitors and against the clock in the night class at Wellington International. Alannah briefly took the lead in a time of 41.655 seconds from Luis Fernando Larrazabal and Quick Chick on 42.909, before the Venezuelan came back out on his second horse, Condara to win in 40.941 and bump Alannah into second.
Alannah’s partnership with ‘Ginny’ began just under three years ago when she set out to find a horse for herself with the criteria being – a small chestnut mare. She put the word out via her friend Cormac Kennedy, and the quest landed with Damien Doyle in Belgium, who sent a picture and a video of Great Thing – enough information for Alannah to say yes to the sale.
“He said: ‘Are you going to fly over and try her in Belgium?’” Alannah recalled. “And I said, ‘no’. And he said, ‘that’s probably a good idea because if you come to try her, you probably won’t buy her’ I said: ‘OK, why not?’ And he said: ‘Well, she’ll give you her whole heart. But she’s a lot of things.’” Unfazed by the conversation Alannah went ahead with the purchase and found out she had got more than she bargained for – in a good way.
“I was looking for a horse to just do the meter 40s to kind of get around those classes. And I had no idea that this horse would evolve into such a winner,” Alannah said. “And be able to step up like she did last night to do some of those bigger Grands Prix.”
The chestnut mare is not the easiest to manage. Quiet and calm at home “like a little puppy dog” ‘Ginny’ has an adverse reaction to the schooling ring and her speed makes riding her a challenge.
“As a horse she’s difficult to ride and it’s hard to have confidence building in the warm up because she doesn’t like the environment of the schooling area,” said Alannah. “You have to be able to think faster than she moves and she moves pretty fast so it’s not the type of horse that most people choose. I love mares and you have to earn their respect not just as a rider but as a person too and I’ve certainly managed that with this one.”
Second place under the lights added to a second place earlier in the week in a Stakes class, to give Alannah the accolade of “Leading Lady Rider” for the second year in succession at the charity show. Her parents Tom and Colleen Wagstaff, her fiancé Patrick Parsons, her groom Sofia Gangale, and many others were rooting for Alannah. “Pretty much anybody who’s part of the Mill Pond family came out last night,” she said. “Ginny has a bit of a fan club. I always invite the kids to pet her to say thanks for watching. When I was that age I used to watch the people who I looked up to and cheer them on so I like to give back and Ginny likes the attention, so that doesn’t hurt.”
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