Salinero
HOW a jumping-bred horse whohated halting became a doubleOlympic dressage championis no mystery to his long-timerider, Anky van Grunsven. In fact, Salinero’s renowned inability to stand still in tests was also the foundation of his strength: energy in bucketloads and an ever-brimming desire to work. That, coupled with his extraordinary movement, was a glorious cocktail.
It was never the rigours of the dressage itself that taxed Salinero, but the peripheral stresses that accompany it.
“I trained him with a heart monitor for a while to see which exercises made it beat faster,” explains Anky. “And the only time it really went up was when I walked him out of the gate for what I thought was a relaxing hack. For him, that took more energy than all the grand prix work.”
And even though he was a scaredy-cat, Salinero trusted Anky enough to become Olympic champion in Athens and Hong Kong.
“He was made for grand prix,” she enthuses. “The fact that he did three Olympics [finishing sixth individually in London
