From Flying Past to Flying Change - Part V: The Thoroughbred in the 1970s

At a time when even riders from countries which traditionally used thoroughbreds in equestrian sport were looking for German or Swedish warmbloods for dressage, a very experienced English lady in her 60s, Lorna Johnstone, bought a young dressage prospect that would astonish the dressage scene at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

El Farucco xx

British Lorna Johnstone, one of the pioneers of British dressage, was used to buying her dressage prospects at the Ascot Sales. In 1966 she acquired a highly refined chestnut gelding and named him El Farucco xx, perhaps after the world famous Spanish flamenco dancer. The horse had been a successful steeplechaser before. Like all her horses El Farucco (by Roman Air xx), in true English style, enjoyed hunting all winter long and was presented in dressage competitions over the summer months.

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