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H I TO C P E N B A DM I N TON
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Albert Hermoso is a very strict and or-
ganized rider, who likes to meticulously
plan his competition season according to
the objective planned for the year. The
participation of “Hito CP” in Badminton
was one of the most important goals for
the season. This has been planned for
since the end of the 2012 with the
owner of “Hito CP”, Antonio Campos
Peña.
How was this goal planned?
At first we were aiming towards the
European Championships in Malmö, Swe-
den (28th August-1 September). It was
at the end of last season when the Spa-
nish Federation and the owner, Antonio
Campos, talked about heading to Bad-
minton. After discussing this at length
with Antonio, we decided to head to-
ward this very exciting goal.
¿How do you feel after after this
first step?
Fear. Panic at the idea of failure. A
high anxiety level by the risk it all
means. You do not always have an “Hi-
to” in your yard and, in this kind of
competition anything could happen
(falls, injuries,) At the same time I feel
an enormous joy to share this incredible
experience with a horse like him (no
matter what happens, he will always be
an special horse for me).
Is going to Badminton the most im-
portant thing?
No. But it’s difficult for someone like
me, someone who lives for and from
horses. It’s a huge economic effort, it
requires a very specific training and ma-
ny days abroad. The most important
thing is to do it well.
Once the entry accepted and with the
decision made to participate ¿How are
your chances in this first participation
in Badminton?
I don’t know. I will make an effort to
ride “Hito” as well as possible. We will
try to arrive prepared. But it’s always
difficult at this level.
How will you plan your season?
Our yard is quite new. We have to
think in the best way to classify the new
horses and educate our youngsters, we
have to keeping thinking about the Na-
tions Cup participation, in the European
Championships and in the World Cham-
pionship for Young Horses at Le Lión
D’Angers.
You are going to Badminton with
“Hito CP”, Andrew Nicholson with “Ne-
reo” and Oliver Townend with “Arma-
da”; three horses bred in Spain will
compete at Badminton 2013. Also the
Spanish team for the eventing Nations
Cup is mainly made up of Spanish bred
horses, do you think that Spain is a
good place to breed eventing horses?
I think Spain is the best place for bre-
eding. Theses riders could choose the
horses they wanted. There is an increa-
sing interest in our horses. They are not
just liked, they are being confirmed at
the highest level of competition. They
are proving it in the most important
meetings in last few years (Nations
Cups, World Cups, European Champion-
ships, Olympic Games, WEG, etc). There
has been a frequent participation of
Spanish bred horses.
It’s a fact that there is a market there
for our horses, the problem is that it’s
expensive to present horses well at this
level.