By Elise Hamersley

European equestrian champion Ros Canter is picking up tips from trailblazing jockey Hollie Doyle as she prepares for an Olympic debut.

The pint-sized eventer and her 17 hand equine partner Lordships Graffalo approach this summer in top form after enjoying a record-breaking 2023.

Canter claimed her fourth European gold medal and became only the fifth rider in elite eventing history to win three majors in a single season, including Badminton Horse Trials.

Canter found the secret to unlocking that extra one per cent from watching a video online of British racing’s own female record breaker.

She said: “You’re dealing with an animal that weighs half a tonne, so you have to be able to react to them in anything they do.

“I go to the gym because I watched a video of Hollie Doyle a few years ago where she was doing lots of core work, lots of strength and conditioning and I thought ‘hang on a minute’.

“Because we compete against men as well, a lot of them are trying to keep their weight down all the time.

“I thought ‘I’m small, I’ve got a disadvantage in that I’m not as strong as them so why don’t I make myself strong’. It doesn’t matter if I weigh a tiny bit more."

(Image: Max Turner/Beat Media Group)

Three years ago, Canter had to watch from the sidelines as a travelling reserve in Tokyo as the British team won their first eventing gold medal in 49 years.

The experience pushed her to return as a member of the full squad this time around.

She said: “It definitely fuelled me to want to get there and want to compete.

“It was a pretty tough place to be at times in Tokyo, I was required to be ready to perform every day, so I had to get my horse ready and be in the right state of mind myself which was quite a difficult thing to do.

“Equally, I got to experience it, I got to see the emotion on my friends’ faces when they won the team gold.

“It’s something that I’d like to do as well. I feel like I’m prepared for it as much as I can but equally I’m trying to think of it as just another competition.

“The dream is to win a gold medal, first and foremost for the team. It’s all about the team when you do anything like that, the individual is a bonus.”

Canter, currently ranked third in the world, trains her event horses on her family’s farm in Lincolnshire.

She is assisted by a small team, her mother and father as well as sponsors including Agria, one of the world’s leading animal insurers, specialising in small animal, equine, and agricultural insurance.

She said: “Agria are absolutely fantastic, we couldn’t do this sport without our staff, our trainers, and our sponsors.

“They enable us to take the best care that we can for our horses and having their financial support allows me to concentrate on being an athlete.”

Agria, the UK's only lifetime equine insurance, has been enriching lives with animals since 1890.