“He was so spooky the owners couldn’t sell him”

IF Lea Siegl flew under the radar of most eventing fans before the Tokyo Olympics, she is unlikely ever to do so again. The 22-year-old, Austria’s sole eventing competitor at the Games, attacked the world’s most high-profile competition with verve, and posted good performances in all three phases to take 15th place.

“My goal was to get into the individual final [where the top 25 perform a second round of showjumping to decide the individual medals], and I ended up achieving Austria’s best eventing result at an Olympics, so everyone was very happy with me and my horse!” she laughs.

The horse she rode, DSP Fighting Line (pictured), has taken Lea from the junior Europeans in 2016, through young riders and several top-three spots at four-star level to the Games – her first senior championship.

“He’s really special,” she says. “I got him because he was so spooky that the owners couldn’t sell him. He needed a lot of time and no pressure because he is sensitive, but he learnt to trust me.

“He knows he is the superstar in the yard. He needs a lot of variety in training – the more hacking the better, and not too much basic dressage work or he gets bored. He loves learning new exercises and can do one-time tempi changes and piaffe – but I can’t do these things in the eventing season or he gets too excited.”

Lea’s father Harald rode for Austria at the 2004 Olympics, but she was too young to remember much. However, she went to watch him compete at the Aachen World Equestrian Games two years later: “I couldn’t believe horses could do that – the fences were so big and I was so small – and I said, ‘I want to do this one day.’”

After leaving school, Lea went to Klaus and Anabel Balkenhol’s dressage yard for a spell, taking DSP Fighting Line with her.

“I really like dressage and it was great fun,” she said.

She also worked for a showjumper for several months, but decided it was “a bit too early” for her to concentrate 100% on riding, and she started a university degree in teaching history, psychology and philosophy. She had a break from studying when it became apparent that she had a shot at an Olympic place, but is now doing her degree part-time alongside riding.

DSP Fighting Line will be aimed at the World Championships in Pratoni – maybe via a first CCI5* at Luhmühlen – and Van Helsing, whom she rode at the Europeans last September, will be her back-up.