Photo courtesy ESNZ
“Quimbo is a very, very smart horse. He’s very clever. He’s an unbelievable show jumper. That’s what he’s bred to do,” Nicholson said. “All the big competitions I’ve done with him, in the warm-up he feels different than in the ring. He’s impressive in the warm-up, but in the ring it’s like a whole different world” said Andrew Nicholson after winning the CCI4* at Rolex Kentucky in 2013
The Spanish bred gelding owned by Deborah Sellar was not your average4* eventing horse. His Spanish breeding - Caballo de Deporte Español – is unusual but it is also one of Andrew Nicholson’s secret weapons. However the horse that won his first 4* start in Kentucky did not head back to Spain but to New Zealand to live out his days following retirement from competition in mid 2015
On the weekend Quimbo put in a guest appearance at the Kihikihi International Horse Trials in New Zealand, an event that has strong ties to the Nicholson family. Heather Nicholson, the mother of two stars of the eventing world, the former world number one rider Andrew and his international course designer brother John, was the first one to moot the idea of a horse trial at the Kihikihi Domain.
Ridden by Charlie Sellar, daughter of owner Deborah, Quimbo showed that he hadn’t lost his touch, especially with those great show jumping bloodlines. Andrew would have been pleased to see that he is still “an unbelievable show jumper” ...........
Quimbo and Charlie Sellar at Kihikihi
