Unique’s story
Story about the horse who inspired us to make this club.
Our hero today is Unique (it is his real name, which reflects his essence), a KWPN gelding, 25 years old this year, born in 2001.
Look at this horse. What do you think?
— “Ok, another big bay warmblood gelding doing his job. Nothing that special since we did not see him at Olympics or World Cup Finals. It is just your personal memory and experience — valuable only for the owner-rider.”
But it is not so straightforward and simple.
Unique is a real living proof (still alive and enjoying himself) of what we strongly believe in. That everyone should have a chance, UNIQUE CHANCE — every human, every horse or every creature.
This horse spent 20 years with us since we bought him as a 5-year-old. He had many wins and placings with me on different international arenas at CSIs of 3* and 4*, including winning a 5* CSIO Grand Prix. Not every horse shows even this kind of achievement.
But… I, as his only rider, will never say —
“Oh! What a great horse he was! How thankful I am that I met him and had the honour to compete him all these years!”
— what you normally expect to hear and what lovely top riders deliver.
Quite the opposite.
He was never brave, honest, cooperative or wanting to please.
I bought him for just above meat price in the UK in 2006, labelled as “danger”. And this was correct — spooky, scared of everything and stubborn gelding. He had no contact with the hand, was turning not just 180 degrees, but more likely 540 degrees away from any jump in front of him.
But, against all the odds, we had this serious international career together.
We both didn’t like it on the one hand, but on the other — it was an interesting life, good career. This horse had one lifetime rider. He had confidence in his life — that despite his odds and buts he knew where he belonged.
Unique even always knew the engine sound of our (his) horse truck.
I remember once — we were travelling between shows and stopped overnight at some stables somewhere in Latvia. In the morning we decided to drive about 100 meters to put fresh water into the tank of our horsebox, so we started and moved to the place with water.
Unique heard the sound of the engine and somehow realized that the truck was leaving without him.
He didn’t want to stay.
He jumped or somehow climbed out of the stable and ran up to the horsebox.
Luckily he didn’t scratch himself much and the next show we travelled to went well. It was CSI**** in Kaliningrad. But we were well impressed by this escape and running after the truck.
He had a full-length competition career from 5 years old to 18 years old — when we retired him.
He was never lame or sick and never met any vet for any treatment.
The only places he met vets were international horse inspections and international border controls.
He also managed to live his show life without a microchip as he was born and started his FEI career before microchips became compulsory.
Unique is still healthy, happy and confident about his today and tomorrow. He is walking in our fields with mares and planning for more happy years.
So you see — the reality does not have to be predictable to become true.
The difficult horse, refused by everyone, could get quite high in competition results and had a long satisfying life and sport career.
Today, this horse inspired us to make a project — UNIQUE CHANCE.
Something as unique, weird and unconventional as this Unique’s life story — getting from where he was supposed to go to where he is now, with all CSI’s and ribbons along the way.
Story about the horse who inspired us to make this club.
Our hero today is Unique (it is his real name, which reflects his essence), a KWPN gelding, 25 years old this year, born in 2001.
Look at this horse. What do you think?
— “Ok, another big bay warmblood gelding doing his job. Nothing that special since we did not see him at Olympics or World Cup Finals. It is just your personal memory and experience — valuable only for the owner-rider.”
But it is not so straightforward and simple.
Unique is a real living proof (still alive and enjoying himself) of what we strongly believe in. That everyone should have a chance, UNIQUE CHANCE — every human, every horse or every creature.
This horse spent 20 years with us since we bought him as a 5-year-old. He had many wins and placings with me on different international arenas at CSIs of 3* and 4*, including winning a 5* CSIO Grand Prix. Not every horse shows even this kind of achievement.
But… I, as his only rider, will never say —
“Oh! What a great horse he was! How thankful I am that I met him and had the honour to compete him all these years!”
— what you normally expect to hear and what lovely top riders deliver.
Quite the opposite.
He was never brave, honest, cooperative or wanting to please.
I bought him for just above meat price in the UK in 2006, labelled as “danger”. And this was correct — spooky, scared of everything and stubborn gelding. He had no contact with the hand, was turning not just 180 degrees, but more likely 540 degrees away from any jump in front of him.
But, against all the odds, we had this serious international career together.
We both didn’t like it on the one hand, but on the other — it was an interesting life, good career. This horse had one lifetime rider. He had confidence in his life — that despite his odds and buts he knew where he belonged.
Unique even always knew the engine sound of our (his) horse truck.
I remember once — we were travelling between shows and stopped overnight at some stables somewhere in Latvia. In the morning we decided to drive about 100 meters to put fresh water into the tank of our horsebox, so we started and moved to the place with water.
Unique heard the sound of the engine and somehow realized that the truck was leaving without him.
He didn’t want to stay.
He jumped or somehow climbed out of the stable and ran up to the horsebox.
Luckily he didn’t scratch himself much and the next show we travelled to went well. It was CSI**** in Kaliningrad. But we were well impressed by this escape and running after the truck.
He had a full-length competition career from 5 years old to 18 years old — when we retired him.
He was never lame or sick and never met any vet for any treatment.
The only places he met vets were international horse inspections and international border controls.
He also managed to live his show life without a microchip as he was born and started his FEI career before microchips became compulsory.
Unique is still healthy, happy and confident about his today and tomorrow. He is walking in our fields with mares and planning for more happy years.
So you see — the reality does not have to be predictable to become true.
The difficult horse, refused by everyone, could get quite high in competition results and had a long satisfying life and sport career.
Today, this horse inspired us to make a project — UNIQUE CHANCE.
Something as unique, weird and unconventional as this Unique’s life story — getting from where he was supposed to go to where he is now, with all CSI’s and ribbons along the way.