Sam Griffiths & Paulank Brockagh winning Badminton ~ Photo by Kit Houghton

I am very pleased and immensely honoured to be interviewing Australian Sam Griffiths who on May 11^th 2014 won the prestigious Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials on Dinah Posford & Juliet Carter’s 11-year-old mare Paulank Brockagh (Brocks). This was Sam’s first four-star eventing title, landing £80,000 pounds (US $134,000), and the Mitsubishi Motors Trophy.

Watching one of the most demanding Badmintons, I was elated when Sam and Brocks jumped from twenty-fifth after the dressage phase, to first after surviving the attrition of a tough cross-country and having just one fence down in the final show jumping phase. This was not only because Sam’s such a great guy but also because he was riding a mare. As readers of my novel “Spiral of Hooves” will know, mares hold a special place in my eventing world.

When Sam became…