Claire Darnell on the Horse She Almost Let Go

Claire Darnell sits third in the Series with a horse she almost leased away. Last season ended with injuries for both her and Harold S, and by January she was weighing whether to keep the ride at all. It's a good thing she kept it because they went on to win their first Grand Prix and first freestyle at the level. She tells the whole story on the podcast: the decision, the music, and the partnership behind it.

The horse she almost let go

The doubt came to a head on an ordinary hack around the property.

“I distinctly remember thinking about the potential of leasing him. And I thought about not riding that horse every day. It made me really sad.”

Claire Darnell on whether to keep the ride

That settled it. She entered the CDI at WEC Ocala. Her home coach, David Marcus, assumed she meant the national show and could not work out why she would haul four hours north when Wellington was full of options. Then she told him it was the CDI. He told her it was a very good idea, and that she would go and do well.

She had not shown Harold at CDI level since 2023. This year they won their first CDI Grand Prix and their first CDI freestyle. She kept a shoe from that show.

“I saved one of his shoes as something I see all the time. It's a reminder that we can go out there and do hard things.”

Claire Darnell on her first CDI wins

The music

Darnell writes her own freestyles, and builds them for other riders too. Harold's floor plan has stayed mostly the same, with tweaks to push the difficulty. She turned a straight piaffe into a piaffe pirouette because it scored better and raised the degree of difficulty. The plan is hard on paper and easy in the saddle.

“It feels so easy to go out there and ride that floor plan, and the difficulty is very, very high on it.”

Claire Darnell on Harold's freestyle

The music has moved around more. She started on an EDM mix, took it to her first CDIs in the desert, and it did not score the way she wanted. With two weeks to replace it, she landed on the Hunger Games soundtrack. It opens with a line lifted straight from the film: Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

That set is on its way out. Watching the World Cup, she saw how hard the crowd leaned into freestyles set to music they knew. So the summer project is an 80s mix.

“It'll be a little bit more of a party freestyle next time we go out. What a cool feeling to be riding your last center line and people are singing and clapping.”

Claire Darnell on this fall's freestyle

A partnership built from scratch

Darnell has had Harold since 2016. She had just retired her previous Grand Prix horse and flew to Europe to find the next one. The made horses all had something she did not like. She wanted one she could build herself. Harold was the second-to-last stop.

“We saw him just trotting around the ring with the warm-up rider, and we were like, okay, this is the one.”

Claire Darnell on finding Harold

He was a four-year-old stallion, quiet in a way he has never lost. She has taken him all the way to Grand Prix herself, and says building a horse up from scratch means you know everything about them from top to bottom.

The quiet does not make him dull. Harold likes the award ceremonies. He stands still for the handshakes, then lights up and prances once the music starts and the crowd claps. At home he patrols the property, checks on the neighbor's cows, and snorts at the garbage cans.

“He's like the HOA president. He has to go check everything out, make sure everybody's doing the right thing.”

Claire Darnell on Harold at home

He is not spooky. He has herded sheep, gone on mountain trail rides, and still hacks out bareback in a halter.

Roots, and a run at the Final

Darnell was riding before she could walk. First pony at two, a dressage-judge mother, and a childhood spent bringing young horses along. Bronze medal at 13, silver at 16. Almost every horse she has competed she or her mother produced.

She is based in Wellington now. The Series Final runs in November at Desert International Horse Park, where Harold contested his first Grand Prix CDI back in 2022. If they make it, it would be their first five-star.

“It would be a very full circle moment if we are able to make it back there.”

Claire Darnell on the Final