WHEN Davy Harvey arrived at Hartpury for the 2023 Winter Dressage Championships, he’d never won a national title. But five days later, he had three to his name. He scooped the prestigious inter I gold crown on Hawtins Rossana, and then an advanced medium double with Diamond Blue. In doing so, he became the most talked about rider of the championships, partly for his hat-trick, but also his heartwarming reaction to his achievements.
“You never think it will be you, or that you could be good enough,” he said at the time, overcome with disbelief and amazement as title after title came his way.
And even when we speak, just over six weeks later, he admits he isn’t sure if his success so far this year has quite sunk in.
Perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that he “had no intention of doing horses for a living”, despite some of his earliest memories being “ragging around” on an elderly Shetland named Queenie, as a child at home on the Orkney islands.
“Orkney was a beautiful place to grow up