Hayley Watson-Greaves' Rubins Nite Retired from Sport

Dressage

Great Britain

British Hayley Watson-Greaves has retired her number one Grand Prix horse, the 19-year old Rubins Nite, from competition sport.

Rubins Nite is a British Hanoverian by Rubin Royal out of Little Wixi (by Limbo x World Cup II x Waidmannsheil). He is bred by E. Richmond-Watson.

From Young Horse to Grand Prix

Hayley Watson-Greaves scouted "Squeaks" as a two-year old and trained himfrom young horse level to Grand Prix. She has been coached by Carl Hester along the way.

They made their national show debut at novice level in December 2008 when the gelding was four. Their first Prix St Georges test was ridden in the early summer of 2011. Their international small tour debut was in 2012 at the CDI Hartpury, where they scored 62.858% in the Prix St Georges. The next day in the Inter I the score was up to 67.158% and never went below 67 when they competed at the 2013 CDI's in Hartpury and Hickstead.

Their first Inter II test was at CDN Hartpury in July 2013, their first Grand Prix was at Bury Farm in November 2013.

A Decade of CDI's

Watson-Greaves and Rubins Nite competed internationally for more than a decade, from 2012 till 2023, with more than 110 competition starts recorded in the FEI database.

Their international Grand Prix debut was at the CDI Addington in March 2014, where they posted 64.420 in the Grand Prix. The scores went upwards from there and they were immediately selected to represent the UK at the FEI Nations Cup in Hickstead that summer.

The pair would be a steady choice of the selectors for CDIO representation and they rode Rotterdam, Compiegne, and Aachen as well as did World Cup qualifiers in London, Lyon, Stuttgart, London Olympia, Amsterdam, Neumunster, 's Hertogenbosch. In 2016 they were named reserve for the British team for the Rio Olympics.

They became the 2017 British Grand Prix Champions and had their highlight season in the winter of 2017-2018 when they qualified for the World Cup Finals in Paris, where they finished 11th (75.347%).

They were in fact regulars at the British National Championships, finishing 7th in 2014, 3rd in 2015, 4th and 3rd in 2016, first in 2017, 4th in 2018, 8th in 2020, and 5th in 2022.

Retirement

Their last show in their career was the CDI Windsor in May 2023. The pair returned for one more public performance and "retirement party" at the 2023 British Dressage Convention on 25 November.

"It was emotional of course but also a happy occasion, I feel very lucky to be able to retire Squeak still fit, healthy and full of running," said Hayley.

She continued, "at 19 years old, Squeaks is still in great shape and health, and I believe it's fitting for him to conclude his competitive career on this positive note. He has given me with countless memories and significantly contributed to my career, for which I am forever grateful to him. He will still be ridden and feature in training videos, demonstrations and obviously eating lots of carrots."