‘The greatest horse I’ll ever have’: Alice Oppenheimer pays tribute to grand prix horse after fatal accident

Alice Oppenheimer has shared the pain of losing her “incredibly special” home-bred grand prix horse, Headmore Dirubinio.

The 13-year-old Dimaggio x Rubinstein gelding was put down on 27 December after shattering his pastern while loose in the arena at home. He was hugely influential on Alice, who told H&H that “he will for ever be the horse who has most defined the way I ride and train”.

“He was special from the moment I backed him, with this enormous canter – he’d take about four strides to do the long side of the arena,” she said.

“We worried that he would struggle to learn to collect, but he found everything so physically easy. I remember first teaching him changes at rising six, and they felt effortless.

Please click here to read the rest of the article as it appears on the Horse and Hound website.

Article written by: Polly Bryan