Olivia Barton’s Melbourne International Three-Day Event CCI4*L winner, Hollyander HG, isn’t a “conventional eventer” – however, Olivia has always believed in the mare’s ability and is excited about the next 12 months.

Up until she was 17 years old, Olivia ‘Golly’ Barton hadn’t had a lot to do with mares – and then the tide turned. “From about age 18 onwards I ended up with a lot of mares and it was a bit of an eye-opener,” she explains. “Now, I’ve actually fallen in love with them; I love how when you get them on side, they’ll do anything for you. They can be a bit trickier, but I don’t mind them a bit quirky, I quite like the quirky ones!”

By Higgins out of an imported mare and with both jumping and dressage lines, 10-year-old Hollyander HG is one of the quirky ones. Bred and owned by Bob and Ela Weight, ‘Holly’ was broken in by Deon Stokes and came to Olivia as a four-year-old – and certainly tested the then-18-year-old. “We met Bob and Ela through mutual friends. They were wanting to get into the eventing scene and really wanted to send Holly to me and see what we could do together,” recalls Olivia. “As a four-year-old, Holly was not the most straightforward horse, she was quite opinionated. I’ve always loved her, and we’ve just really gotten along. While she’s not the most conventional eventer, she’s just got a heart of gold and always tries. So that’s what I love about her.”

Given it was the mare’s first long format four-star, Olivia, now 23, set out with realistic expectations at Melbourne International Three-Day Event. Keeping her on her toes, the mare wasn’t initially certain she wanted to enter the dressage arena – but once that decision was tactfully discussed, they posted what in the end turned out to be a winning score.

“The dressage phase isn’t Holly’s favourite. She got a bit feisty in the atmosphere, but she actually went into the arena and did the best test she could have done at this stage in her training. I was really happy with how she stayed with me and kept trying throughout the test.” The pair were placed eighth after the first phase on 35.5.

“Walking the course, it looked pretty tough. There were definitely lots of questions early on; it was really intense for the first three or four minutes,” says Olivia of the cross country. “Holly was just so much fun; she went around and made it feel like a bit of a Pony Club course. She was really cool.”

Olivia and Holly finished the phase sharing the lead with stablemate Oliver Barrett, however Oliver’s mare, Sandhills Special, was withdrawn prior to the final phase and so Olivia went into the show jumping as the class leader. She had less than a rail to spare over Andrew Cooper and Sharvalley Thunder, however, when Andrew had a rail it took the pressure off a little and gave Olivia some breathing space – not that she needed it.

“Holly is a pretty careful jumper and I was relatively confident in her ability to jump a clear round, however, being her first four-star long… you never really know how they’re going to feel after galloping for 10 minutes on the cross country. But she felt really good.”

Even more remarkable was the fact that Olivia had Henrik APH, also contesting his first CCI4*L, in fifth place. Third after the dressage, they had an unlucky frangible pin on the cross country and one show jumping rail – but otherwise, Olivia was thrilled with the 11-year-old gelding’s performance.

“Out of the two of them, Holly was the unexpected one. ‘Henry’ is the one that usually wins, so it was nice for her to have a win and it was really exciting. It was her first FEI win. She’s been close a couple of times, but this was her first and definitely now a career highlight of mine.”

A LIFE WITH HORSES

Olivia’s mum, Carlene Barton, has always evented, and her father used to play polo – so horses have always been a part of Olivia’s life. “I grew up in a very horsey family and I was probably on a horse before I could walk. Mum gave me the eventing bug; I just loved cross country, I love going fast and jumping jumps!

“Throughout school I wouldn’t have said that I made it a plan [to work professionally with horses], but I didn’t really know what else I would want to do other than horses. When I left school, I was always going to have a year off and then see if I wanted to go to uni, so I took a year and did the horse thing and thought, ‘this is what I want to do’.”

“I love going fast and jumping jumps!”

Olivia is now in her fifth year of being based with Prue and Craig Barrett. “They have been a huge, huge influence on my career. Craig has been coaching me from when I was eight and Prue has also helped me a lot, so they’re my main support network and they’re just amazing, it’s so good to have them behind me. Rod Brown has also helped a lot with show jumping, and I do quite a bit with him.”

Olivia breaks in and schools horses for Craig and Prue, as well as other clients, and trains her own eventing team – which alongside Holly and homebred Henry (Olivia’s mother runs her own boutique stud, APH Sport Horses), includes two other homebreds named APH Sodoku and APH Sebastian.

“Sodoku was at Melbourne in the two-star. Mum rode him up until the start of this year and then she’s given him to me to continue taking up the grades. He’s exciting for the future. He’s very fancy and he’s quirky, but he’s a lovely, lovely horse. Sebastian is also at two-star level. He recently went to Quirindi and won there. He’s been a bit of a slow process, but has all the jump in the world, so he’s also exciting.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, Olivia explains that Holly and Henry will now have a break before being aimed at Sydney CCI4*L in November: “If that all goes well, we’ll think about doing Adelaide five-star next year, so that’s exciting.

“Paris is always in the back of the mind. It is a long shot at the moment, but we’re going to keep chipping away and hopefully providing good results so we can throw our hat in the ring. We’ve got an exciting 12 months ahead of us!” EQ

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE TO READ:

Live Wire Sparks Coaching Debate – Equestrian Life, July 2023