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In our series ‘That Special Bond’ – first introduced in 2016 – World of Showjumping highlights what equestrian sport is truly about; a unique connection between horses and humans. This time around, we had a chat with Great Britain’s 2024 Olympic team gold medallist Harry Charles.

“It's really hard to pick one,” Harry begins before opting for the now 12-year-old gelding Sherlock (Bisquet Balou C x Malito de Reve, bred by G. Quentelier). “It probably would have to be Sherlock – he is the horse I have had the longest. From day one, we had an instant connection. I don't know what it was, I can’t explain it – from the moment I first saw a video of him as a five-year-old, to when he arrived at our yard a few weeks later, there was this special connection between us.”

“He is very chilled out,” Harry describes Sherlock’s character. “He doesn't stress. He's so unique in his way; he gets in a ring and he lights up – I love it. Sherlock’s like a pet, and the most affectionate horse – a yard favourite. I hope I will find another one like him. I'm getting emotional talking about him, but he's been, I don't want to say the horse of a career because everyone says that – and I'm only young – but he's been the most special horse to me, so far.”

He's been the most special horse to me, so far

“We were at the Sunshine Tour, and a good friend of ours, Theo, who we had one horse from before, came to me and my dad and said he had a great horse for us,” Harry recalls about the very beginning. “He said it was a five-year-old stallion, and although I thought it's going to be a long wait, I watched the video on his phone. I think it was four jumps, two single fences and a double, and I was so amazed. We bought him from the video, with no trial. It was a big gamble.”

“I remember watching the video of him for weeks and weeks until he finally arrived,” Harry continues. “I was at the show in Windsor, but I drove home straight away when I found out he was getting there later. He was absolutely beautiful, the most beautiful looking horse I've ever seen. Dad had said that I was not allowed to ride Sherlock until he got back, but I couldn't really wait – so we tacked him up after he had settled in and I just spent half an hour walking and trotting around. I felt something so special with him from the very first day.”  

While Sherlock went on to be a five-star Grand Prix winner, and most recently was part of the British team that topped the CSIO5* Longines League of Nations Final in Barcelona, the road there has not been without bumps. “As a young horse, he wasn't the easiest,” Harry explains. “When he was castrated before turning six, it really turned the corner for him. He was kept so behind his age group; as a seven-year-old, I kept jumping him in the six-year-old classes. I was trying to do the best for him, and I knew that if I was really patient with him, it would pay us back in the long run.”

“It was really a case of taking it super slow with him. He was so careful all throughout his life, and he didn't realize the power he had. He would throw a really big jump and would nearly scare himself. Keeping him in small classes and getting the rideability right were key. He was a little tricky to ride growing up, but then in the space of two months, when he was turning nine, everything changed and he became super simple.”

He's really been my front-and-centre horse

This year, Sherlock has taken the lead in Harry’s team of horses. “He's really stepped up to another level with the departure of Romeo, Balou and Aralyn,” Harry explains. “He's really been my front-and-centre horse. It feels like this year I've not done as well because I've done way less shows, as I haven't had the horses. However, it's actually been the most successful year in terms of prize money. I've won way more this year than I have in previous years, and it's all thanks to Sherlock. Barcelona was actually his first ever five-star Nations Cup and the way he jumped it felt so easy for him. I'm very excited; he's 12 now, but he still feels quite young and I definitely believe that the best is yet to come. I'm trying to really take care of him now and keep him happy.”

“In terms of his development, he already made some good rounds last year, and we qualified for the World Cup Finals as well as the LGCT Super Grand Prix,” Harry points out. “It would have been nice to go and compete, but there was a 10 to 20% chance that he was going to get a bit frightened and go backwards – and that was already too big of a risk for me. Pulling out of those shows is not ideal; as riders, we want to be in the biggest moments, but we can't do it without our horses. For me, stepping back from those classes actually gave me a chance to then move further forward this year. I don't regret any decisions I ever made with him. He's happy and he's jumping more confident than ever. I think having him since he was such a baby makes those decisions a bit clearer to see and easier to make.”

In the autumn of 2022, Harry handed over the reins of the 15-year-old mare Stardust (Chacco-Blue x Con Air 7, bred by Gestüt Lewitz) to his younger sister Sienna.

“There's always going to be horses you miss in life,” Harry begins. “So many people are looking for that same horse. For me, I think the one that got away would be Stardust. She is a horse that I would have loved to keep riding. She gave me my first ever big win in the sport, we had a great partnership and she did so much for me.”

We had a great partnership and she did so much for me

“She's not moved too far away,” Harry continues. “Sienna needed her at that point of her career. She had some experience and the talent; she just didn't have a horse to help her get to the next level. We thought that Stardust was maybe the most suitable to her, even though I was actually very close to getting in to the Top 10 on the Longines Rankings. I was only a couple months out from Geneva and my goal was trying to get to the final. Stardust left in September, and she was my leading ranking point winner by quite a long way.”

“I'll always be grateful for what Stardust did for my career,” Harry says about the mare he won the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup of London with in 2021. “She was an amazing horse for me – and she still is. I'm very happy to get to see her at home, and I get to ride her once in a while, which is always nice.”

For Harry, the now 16-year-old gelding Romeo 88 (born Champion of Picobello Z, Contact vd Heffinck x Orlando, bred by Picobello Horses) – his ride for two Olympic Games – has been the hardest to figure out. With Romeo, Harry won team gold at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris (FRA), claimed team bronze at the 2022 World Championships in Herning (DEN) and placed fourth in the 2022 FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Leipzig (GER).

It wasn't smooth sailing at the start

“From the outside, it maybe wouldn't have seemed like it,” Harry points out. “I've never had a horse with a bigger heart or more fight in them than Romeo. He's been by far the most influential horse in my career, and it was quite emotional at the start of the year having to retire him. He was an amazing, incredible horse. However, it wasn't smooth sailing at the start, and I think that’s what made it all the more rewarding.”

“Romeo came to us in December of 2020 – and I was so excited,” Harry recalls. “I couldn't believe I got a horse that good, that someone wanted me to ride for them. I was so excited for weeks, watching every video I could find of him. And when he arrived, things did not go at all as I had expected. The first few weeks, it was really difficult, we did not click at all. I couldn't figure him out, and he was running away with me.”

“My dad was super helpful with Romeo. We went back to the basics, and we worked a lot with our vets as well. He wasn't totally sound when he arrived, and getting him feeling fit translated well to the flat-work. As he got to know me, it was really one day at home when everything just clicked. I figured out how he wanted to be ridden, and it was a different way than I had been riding. I’ve had a lot of special horses before – like Quantum Cruise and Borsato – and luckily, that experience helped me so much with Romeo.”

I feel like that championship made us as a partnership

After Harry and Romeo found a connection, they were selected for the British team for the Tokyo Olympic Games. “We went to Tokyo, definitely inexperienced,” Harry recalls. “I feel like that championship made us as a partnership. I think it ended on a great note. We had ups and downs, and then we really had to fight and work it out for the final day with a lot of pressure. I think that final round in Tokyo was the one that made us as a partnership. From there on, I knew him, he knew me.”

“I think I really couldn't have done the rounds I did in Paris if I didn't go to Tokyo,” Harry points out about the difference between the two Games he did with Romeo. “I remember going to Tokyo, I was nervous and anxious. It was a bit of a blur, to be honest. I had my lowest time in the sport while there. It was hard, but as an experience, I think it grew me a lot.”

“It was weird; there was no crowd, but you felt like all the eyes of the world were watching you,” Harry continues. “It was a strange environment. I was lucky I had two super guys, Scott and Ben, around me, and they kept my head up. Just getting to watch them and how they compose themselves in such a pressure cooker was an invaluable experience. Going to Paris, I knew what to expect.”

At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Harry and Romeo were at a point in their partnership where if Harry would think something, Romeo was on to it. “Everything was working and his jump was so crisp and easy. He was at a great point in his career and I was at a great point with him; I had so much confidence.”

I knew when I got on him, everything just made sense

“The worst bit is that you walk the course and you've got three hours,” Harry tells about the week in Paris that ended with a team gold. “It was hard to know what to do with that time. It was nearly not beneficial to keep going over the course because you're going to overcomplicate it. I'd walk it once, walk it again, and make a little plan. Once I got on Romeo, everything disappeared, the nerves went away and it all just made sense. I would look down at his ears and feel how relaxed he was. Every day I walked the course and said, okay, this is very jumpable – even though it probably wasn't, it was very difficult. I wish I could get back to that point in my mind more often. It was really cool to be in that mindset and I hope I can continue to kick into that.”

“It was all down to the relationship I had with my horse,” Harry says about his gold-winning confidence in Paris. “At the start of any relationship, you are guessing a little bit and improvising, whether it be the stride length, how you have to slow up for a vertical, how much faster you have to go for the time allowed… They're all little factors that you have to learn about. With Romeo, we'd had so much time. It was our fourth year together and the form beforehand was as strong as it had ever been. I didn't have to worry about anything, it was all merely second nature. And it sounds weird, but I didn't have to worry about my riding. I knew when I got on him, everything just made sense.”

3.12.2025 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.