Text © World of Showjumping by Jenny Abrahamsson

At Gothenburg Horse Show, Singular LS La Silla (Chapultepec x Stakkato) delivered an impressive comeback at five-star level – now with Denmark’s Linnea Ericsson-Carey in the saddle. 

Maria Gretzer, who owns the stallion, educated him and competed him as a youngster before Marcus Ehning took over the reins in 2013. “For me, Marcus is one of the very best riders in the world – so he was an obvious first choice,” Gretzer explains. 

Ehning brought Singular LS La Silla up to top level, but in 2017, it was decided that Maria would take him back to Sweden. “Singular has been home with me for two years now. We have won a stallion competition and done some clinics, but mostly I have just jumped at home and kept him in form,” Gretzer says. 

In the middle of November 2019, Linnea Ericsson-Carey started to ride Singular. “I have had a fantastic cooperation with Linnea’s husband Shane Carey with my former horse Fecybelle. I was very impressed by Shane’s professionality and his way of riding. When I got closer to Linnea and Shane, Linnea tried Singular. Shane told me she walked around with a big smile for three days after. That made me think a little. I know what capacity Singular has and I really wanted to let him try the big sport one more time.”

Even though Maria has been working with Shane on previous occasions, it was out of the question that he would be the one riding the beautiful stallion. “It was a very conscious choice to have a girl ride Singular. I should have noticed it from the beginning, but when it didn’t quite click between Singular and Marcus I was sure that Singular is a horse for a woman. He is cool and afraid of nothing, but he has a huge ego – if you don’t love him to pieces he thinks it’s quite boring,” Maria laughs. 

After being matched up, Linnea and Singular have jumped some national 1.35m classes and just a few weeks ago they went to the CSI3* show in Lilleström, Norway where they competed in two bigger classes. “We got to know quite late that Linnea would get the Danish spot at Gothenburg Horse Show, as the best Danish riders are preparing outdoors for the Olympics. Singular is in very good form and has done it before, and so has Linnea, so we thought we would give it a go. You should take the chances when you get them,” Gretzer says. 

“I love this horse more than any other horse I ever had, so for me it is just amazing that he gets the opportunity to show who he is. Just with a normal snaffle, no martingale, no hind boots – just as easy as he is,” Gretzer smiles.