Introduction
When Todd arrived in England, still an unknown, he won Badminton. Already then people began to talk about him. The English, the owners of the complex, could not think that this farmer, so simple and not arrogant, would become the world idol riding horse of the whole and it must have cost them quite a bit to surrender to him.
An unknown farmer arrives in England
On the other hand, at the time Mark arrived on the islands, it was even more difficult to become a number one, as there was the peerless Lucinda Prior Palmer, the queen of Badminton (she won on six occasions and with six different horses); Mark Philips; the also exceptional Gini Leng and many other riders who attracted a lot of attention such as the Scottish Ian Stark with the great gray Murfy, who made the great horse jumps of Badminton seemed small and that he was capable of taking two steps where the others took four and we must not forget the expectation that created Princess Anne, who was a member of the British team and an Olympian in Moscow.
Well, even so, the New Zealand rider became the most admired, but not only by the fans but also by the horse owners and the riders themselves.
Double Olympic champion with Charisma
Mark Todd won the individual gold medal in Los Angeles and four years later he won it again with the same horse in Seoul. Something unthinkable that exalted him as a rider but also as the trainer of his horse Charisma.
But the "kiwi" has continued all these years without letting up on the accelerator and has won everything. He has won Badminton 3 times and Burghley 4 times, he has won the team gold medal at the world championships in Stockholm and Rome, in the latter he was also an individual silver medalist. He has also triumphed in jumping, winning the Hickstead Grand Prix among other important events and was an Olympian in Barcelona. He rode jump with the same ease and with the same naturalness as he did eventing. A "feeling" that is only reserved for the stars.
The best rider of the complete century
All this has led him to be considered the best event rider of the century, and There has been unanimity here, and many also consider him the best rider in the world. If he had competed in dressage he would surely have also occupied a preferred position.
The simplicity of Mark Todd
Still, Mark is characterized by his simplicity. He has not lost his image as a farmer, happy and relaxed, something that must not be absolutely real because when he competes in it he joins a orthodox horsemanship with the characteristics of a born winner.
It is known that Mark is in a competition, not because he never wants to stand out or attract attention, but because where he is there are cameras or television.
Todd and the Spanish horsemen
Mark Todd has had a relationship with Spanish riders. Santiago de la Rocha when he set out to become a full international, something that no one did in Spain at that time, with his well-known insistence he got Todd to train him and be his advisor. Santi made a good choice because during the eighties and until Barcelona 92 he competed very well and at a high level: he has the best classifications in Badminton and in a World Championship of a Spanish rider and he also won the three stars of Punchestown.
He also trained Álvarez Cervera and Revuelta's horses for some time. Carlos Campón, who stopped being a teacher in Somosaguas to go as a groom with Álvarez Cervera to Atlanta, after this Olympics he worked for more than three years with the New Zealander, he became the manager of his stable and helped him ride the young horses .
Sydney, its last big competition. Racehorses
Now after Sydney, where he was unable to ride his best horse Word for Word due to injury, with Eye Spy he has won the individual bronze medal which has put a great culmination to his career.
Mark Todd retires from competition and lives in New Zealand. He is going to dedicate himself to raising and training racehorses, another of his great hobbies. Mark has also raced and won races, especially steeplechase races. He has commented that he will only compete with young horses to put them on, but perhaps, as happens to bullfighters, he will get the bug and return to the big competition, but he is sure that he will do well again and not It will disappoint its audience, which is the entire world.
Mark retires and we say goodbye to him with sadness but with gratitude for having known him and having been able to admire him as a person, as a rider and as a man of horses.
Now in the complete you can always talk about a before and after to Mark Todd. He has made history.
