Carl Hester: ‘I came out of those Olympics thinking what’s the point?’

Carl Hester was ready to pack up riding and give up on his Olympics dream, after years of missing out on medals.

Carl is the latest special guest on H&C’s popular series Rudall Rides With… where he talked frankly about the tough times in his career.

“Our weakest point was at Sydney in 2000,” Carl told Jenny. “We were there for a month and nothing went right. I think we were about last. I came out of those Olympics thinking, ‘What’s the point?’.

“I was so used to not winning ­– my friends would go to prizegivings and I’d say, ‘See you at the next show’.”

Luckily for British dressage, Carl kept plugging away. And it was at London 2012 when things finally came together for Carl, Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Tomlinson (née Bechtolsheimer), with a little stellar intervention.

“Laura was already was at top of her game with Mistral Hojris and I thought, wow, if we could have another two horses, what a team we could make,” said Carl. “And what a team we did make!

“London 2012 was something you cannot plan. An Olympics, a home county, three great horses at the same time ­– it was like the stars collided.”