Anna Ross and Die Callas Find Their Groove at the 2016 CDI Oliva Nova

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2016 CDI Oliva Nova

Delighted to win both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Special at the 2016 CDI Oliva Nova on 21 - 24 April 2016, British Anna Ross and 15-year old mare Die Callas clocked their second and third international victories as a duo. After a difficult start at the beginning of their partnership in the spring of 2015, the pair seemed to have found its groove in the show ring.

Ross was even more surprised to win given that they were drawn to ride first in the Grand Prix. Anna felt the mare in top form and much more confident than she has been in the past.

“She was great and It's exciting to ride a horse with her ability," said Anna about Die Callas (by De Niro x Carprilli). “We are just starting to push for more as she has a lot of ability but she's sensitive so it's taken a while to build her confidence in the arena. I've ridden her pretty conservatively up until now trying to give her a very safe feeling in the ring and make her happy in there. I now feel that she wants to go in a positive way. She wants to give more. She's very talented and finds the exercises easy. Now that she is more relaxed she is great fun to ride.”

Scoring 69.560% in the Grand Prix and 70.235% in the Grand Prix Special, Anna is trained by Dutch Diederik Wigmans, who was on the ground in Oliva Nova. She praises her coach for his patience and support.

“He comes to all the shows to help and we make a plan before and try and stick with it. He's very 'horse friendly' and Cassie likes him. The other day she did a half pass and stopped dead in front of him as if to say “So? - What did you think?" She knows he's the trainer. Erik Thielgaard has also helped me with her in the UK but we've been based abroad for most of this year.”

Anna and Die Callas in Oliva Nova Before moving to Great Britain, the Oldenburg mare Die Callas was competed by Andreas Helgstrand at the 2012 CDI-W Odense, who had her a sales horse in his barn. The mare briefly disappeared due to legal imbruglio between her Dutch owners at the time, Mr Maat and Mrs Swanborn, to reappear a bit later at another dealer's yard in The Netherlands, where she was sold to Jane Sewell in the U.K..

Anna Ross made her competition debut at the 2013 CDI Vidauban in March but had to retire because the mare could not cope with the atmsphere and took off in the ring. Her next few starts were troublesome with an elimination and several withdrawals from the test ensuing. By May the mare started to show improvement, but there were many ups and downs with some issues at the 2015 CDI Le Mans and 2016 CDI Jerez again. However, at the 2016 CDI Valencia in March the pieces all came together and the pair won the Grand Prix for Special with 71.784%. One month later they had their double whammy at the 2016 CDI Oliva Nova.

Anna says that they have been working on “everything”, and while in the beginning they stuck to the basics even though they were competing in Grand Prix, they are now more more able to refine all. It has taken a lot of patience and hard work to get her where she is now having to calm the mare's sensitive nature at the beginning.

“It's exciting as she has a lot of talent and I'm hoping we can start to really show that in the ring. Her piaffe and passage is becoming a real highlight," Ross explained. "She's known as the Princess as she has strong ideas about her daily care which we slowly worked out. She likes to have her feed in different buckets, only likes certain tack, hates rugs, and can be quite bossy. She is very communicative and makes her feelings very clear to us. We try to make her happy and relaxed in the stable so that then she's good to ride. She needs to be in a routine competing to keep her relaxed so we compete her regularly for a couple of months and then she has a break. It works for her. She gives so much when she's ridden so she needs the break. She loves hacking and goes to the gallops too. And she's a big sunbather, she really loves the sun.”

Anna Ross on Jane Sewell's Die Callas Set to compete at Compiengne, Roosendaal and Rotterdam, Anna says that of course Rio is her main goal this year, followed by a break and then hopefully some World Cup shows. Anna Ross(-Davies) is a seasoned competitor and represented Great Britain at the 2007 European Championships in Turin, where she finished 10th individually on the Holsteiner Liebling II (by Lorentin). She is a full time coach and rider and is the official team trainer of the Brazilian eventing team.

Now 43, Anna is looking at "Rio, Aachen, World Cup.. Everything" and believes that Cassie is a top horse and so she will aim high and do her best to fulfil mares potential.

“I’m also lucky to have a few nice horses on the way up. I have another Grand Prix horse called Wydney who will start soon, and two ready for Prix St Georges, as well as some very nice youngsters at home that Diederik and his partner Krista found for us. My stable jockey Beth Bainbridge is doing a great job of 'bringing up the kids' at home. My partner event rider Marcelo Tosi rides for Brazil and has competed in two Olympics already. Of course he wants to ride at Rio so with both of us trying and me coaching their team along with Mark Todd it's pretty full on in our house. He's very supportive, as is Die Callas's owner, Jane Sewell, who literally lived in the lorry and drove Cassie from show to show for months last year until the mare started to settle and gain confidence. It's a big team effort.”