On this unique, subscriber-only interview, Lithuania’s first Olympic rider Justina Vanagaite-Samuile shares how she discovered her grand prix associate, plus her coaching ethos that has enabled her to compete towards the the world’s finest riders on the most important stage
She describes herself as “the woman from nowhere”, however Lithuania’s first Olympic rider – Justina Vanagaite-Samuile – is actually going locations within the dressage world. Final yr alone, she and her first and solely grand prix horse Nabab competed in Doha, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia and the Paris Olympics. Justina drives her valuable cargo 1000’s of kilometres throughout Europe within the truck herself, enlisting a buddy as a groom.
It could appear a gargantuan job as a one-man band, however Justina, 34, merely adores the game. She has an infectious enthusiasm, beaming broadly throughout her checks and celebrating flamboyantly after, blowing kisses and drawing within the crowd. She may not but be troubling the very best echelons on the very elite stage, however she’s develop into a nationwide hero and he or she’s demonstrably delighted, even grabbing a selfie with the Lithuanian president in Paris, the place he got here to assist.
“Do what you like, and love what you do, and you’ll undoubtedly succeed,” she says.
Justina Vanagaite salutes the group after driving her grand prix on Nabab at Paris 2024. Credit score: Xinhua/Alamy Inventory Photograph
Justina’s pleasure is coupled together with her partnership with Nabab, an 11-year-old Belgian warmblood by Sir Donovan x Krack C. Her Instagram is full of reels of the pair merely having enjoyable collectively – cantering via an enormous subject, driving bareback in a headcollar and a pair of trainers, Nabab wriggling Houdini-style out of his headcollar.
“It’s simply me having enjoyable with my horse; typically after I’m bored I do fascinating issues, and one in every of them is driving in a halter,” smiles Justina, who caught the attention this yr as the primary rider to compete at worldwide grand prix with out spurs.
Justina Vanagaite: Nabab’s journey to grand prix
Justina has been driving Nabab – nicknamed Kebabi – for 5 and a half years, although she first noticed him three years earlier.
“When Nabab was a three-year-old, I noticed his gross sales video and I appreciated him, however I mentioned I wish to come and think about him,” she says. “That night I used to be informed the horse was bought.”
Justina knew the one who purchased him, and when she wished to promote him three years later, she despatched Justina some movies and requested for assist promoting him. Justina wasn’t going to let this second likelihood cross her by.
“I purchased him with out even making an attempt him – I simply lunged him to see he was sound and loaded him into the trailer,” she says.
Justina and Nabab trot-up on the FEI Dressage European Championship in Risenbeck 2023. Credit score: Benjamin Clark
At that stage, Justina had by no means even competed internationally – her first FEI competitors was a prix st georges in August 2020. She was treating Nabab as a gross sales mission.
“I didn’t assume he would develop into the horse of a lifetime,” she says. “The start was not very straightforward. At first we had been competing in membership competitions and we had been at all times ending final. However little by little we began to belief one another and have become actually good companions.”
Inside a yr, Justina began to dream of grand prix.
“When he was seven, we began to play with tempis and piaffe and I mentioned to myself that he can be my first grand prix horse,” she says. “All the things he does we began to do as a recreation. I used to be simply taking part in with issues. He can naturally do passage, so it simply felt very easy.
“He’s very gifted, however his finest attribute of all is his mindset. If a horse is keen to work, he’ll enhance in all methods. You can also make them transfer higher, enhance different components, construct muscular tissues with right work, and the horse might be born stunning. But when they don’t have the best mind, you received’t be capable of enhance it.”
“What he does is dependent upon each our moods”
But it surely’s additionally that Justina Vanagaite’s administration type permits for Nabab to precise his character. Like Justina, who describes herself as a “showgirl”, Nabab “at all times needs to be on the occasion”.
“He simply loves individuals and a spotlight – he’s tremendous curious, needs to find the whole lot. He actually is the perfect horse I do know.”
“He actually is the perfect horse I do know – he simply loves individuals and a spotlight”: Nabab asks for further consideration
When he’s at residence, Justina arrives on the stables and places Nabab with different horses on the walker whereas she prepares their meals. He has advert lib hay, and is fed three feeds a day – nuts with lucerne for breakfast, a mash at lunch and a night mash with a mixture and dietary supplements. Within the afternoon she lunges or rides and after that he’s turned out within the paddock.
“I trip him three or 4 occasions every week,” she says. “After each competitors – if I don’t have just a few in a row – he will get no less than one week off. And after the larger ones, the place there’s extra travelling, he’ll have 10 days with no driving. I’ll lunge him in a halter as a substitute.
“Some days he simply has turnout within the paddock, but when the climate is unhealthy, he’ll do a mixture of the walker and driving or lungeing. It at all times is dependent upon the climate, his temper and my temper.”
Nabab can be 15 when Los Angeles 2028 rolls round, so nonetheless in a dressage horse’s prime. However proper now, Justina is simply basking within the satisfaction of their achievements this yr.
“After all Los Angeles is on my thoughts, however for now we are going to simply take pleasure in being collectively, going to some exhibits the place I actually need to go. Nabab will preserve having fun with his paddock along with his buddies and we are going to see the way it goes and the place it would lead us. I’ve extra horses in numerous ranges, however for now Kebabi is the one!”
You may additionally be focused on:
Justina Vanagaite and Nabab on the CDI5* in Doha.
Credit score: Lukasz Kowalski
Credit score: FEI/Martin Dokoupil
“I used to be simply making an attempt to take pleasure in my horse and luxuriate in my trip”: Lithuania’s Justina Vanagaite-Samuile.
Credit score: Peter Nixon
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl and TSF Dalera BB at residence in Germany.
Credit score: Stefan Lafrentz
Champions chilling: TSF Dalera BB watches on as her rider Jessica von Bredow-Werndl sleeps in a hammock in her secure.
Credit score: Aubenhausen GbR
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H&H options editor
Martha is an skilled journalist who’s mad-keen on horses and canine. Her reporting CV contains the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Pageant and World Cup finals. After rising up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she loved 14 years with two rescue canine. Now, her fixed companion is Fidget, an especially energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on subjects as numerous as a prime horse’s clone to the perfect GPS trackers for canine, in addition to equestrian and rural issues for Nation Life, The Area, The Occasions, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
