Every top rider has a horse who made them—maybe it was the horse that took them to the big leagues, or maybe it was just the horse that taught them the most.
We asked Christian Kukuk, Harry Charles and Lillie Keenan which horse meant the most to each of their developing careers.
Christian Kukuk
Around 2014, Limonchello NT came to my stable [as a] 6-year-old. For seven years we were building a partnership.
I jumped my first five-star Nations Cup with him, first five-star grand prix [classes], Global Champions Tours—we had a lot of success, but I’m always calling him the horse who made me because he taught me a lot.
I had some success with him, but we also had some disappointing moments. We learned a lot from each other. We always got up after a disappointing moment, and we were fighting for the next success. Luckily it always came, and we were growing and growing. He was one of the most important horses in my life.
I won my first three-star grand prix in Frankfurt (Germany) in 2016 and my first car! It was very special because it was after a really bad injury. I broke my shoulder, and it was our second show after I came back after having a break for three months.
He was a little bit shy of other horses. He was a stallion, but he wasn’t really a “stallion.” He was doing his own thing a little bit. He was super brave and easy to ride. He was really big and a little heavy, but he still had a bit of blood. He was really careful. He needed a little bit of support. He didn’t have the biggest heart, so when [the jumps] got really big, I really had to support him, and he taught me that.
But he was very easygoing. You could put him out in the paddock, and he didn’t care about other horses. He was just happy for himself and doing his own thing.
Germany’s Christian Kukuk, 35, won individual Olympic gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Checker 47. They went on to help the German team win the Longines League of Nations Final (Spain) that fall.Earlier this year they topped the $750,000 Rolex US Equestrian Open Grand Prix CSI5* (Florida). Kukuk has worked for his mentor, Ludger Beerbaum, since 2012.
ADVERTISEMENT
Harry Charles
I have two. The first horse who took me to my first five-stars was ABC Quantum Cruise. He’s in America now. He’s 16. My dad [Peter Charles] bought him when he was 6 and very kindly let me have him.
I took him over when he was 9. I was definitely too inexperienced for a horse like that at the time! He took me to my first big shows.
I took over when I was 17 or 18, so I was still learning myself. He was 9 and was still learning. I’d love to have the chance to go back now and see—I’m sure we could do a lot better—but at the time, he took care of me. I was a young kid stepping into bigger stuff. My first five-star grand prix was Aachen (Germany), so to have a safe horse who really took care of me and knew what he was doing and was strong-willed was something I’m grateful for.
Romeo 88 is the second horse who I would say made my career. He put me on the map—got me on the rankings, took me to my first Olympics, first championship medal. “Romeo” is the one I owe everything to, but without Quantum Cruise I wouldn’t have had the chance to ride Romeo.
With Romeo, we just grew over the years. It took a bit of time to get to know him. He’d had success before me. Last year was his best year of jumping in our fourth year of partnership. We really know each other inside and out. Going into the Olympics last year, I was so, so confident with him. I have a very special bond with Romeo.
The son of Olympic show jumper Peter Charles, Harry Charles has represented his country in FEI European Championships from ponies all the way to the senior level. Harry, 25, represented Great Britain at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and at the 2024 Paris Olympics with Romeo 88, where they earned team gold.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lillie Keenan
I’m really lucky to have had quite a few horses that changed my career. Obviously, I did hunters and equitation, so I had some huge influences in that. But I would say the horse that really changed the trajectory of my career was Super Sox.
I bought him when he was 8 years old, and I still own him. When I bought him, we thought he was really a 1.50-meter horse. He ended up jumping multiple five-star Nations Cups with me. We jumped clear in Barcelona (Spain) at the Nations Cup Final when I was only 20 years old.
That’s a horse that made me believe I could do this. Before then, I always loved to ride, and I thought I would ride at a decent level. I didn’t know if I’d ever be good enough to really be pro, and a lot of people are shocked by that, but I did have a lot of uncertainty.
Even through my career with him, I went through periods where I just felt like, I’m not really good enough to deserve this horse. And he never gave up on me. I think that’s what made him so pivotal. He did so much more than anyone realized he was capable of, and he did it for me.
When you looked at him on the ground, his conformation was not classical. The way that he traveled and jumped was not what you would model for a show jumper, and he just found a way. I had such a connection with that horse, and he really made me believe that if you work hard, and you form that bond, you achieve a lot. And he convinced me that I was maybe not so bad at this!
There are moments now where I just wish that I could have had another chance with him because he deserved a much better rider than I was capable of being at that stage of my career. And he gave me absolutely everything.
Lillie Keenan, 28, starred in the hunter, jumper and equitation rings throughout her junior career before turning her focus to international show jumping as a young adult. Since then, she’s represented the U.S. at the 2022 Agria FEI Show Jumping World Championship (Denmark) as well as at two FEI Nations Cup Finals. Most recently she finished 11th in the Longines FEI World Cup Final in Basel, Switzerland, with Kick On. She was also a member of the winning U.S. team at the 2025 Longines League of Nations—Ocala (Florida) with Argan De Beliard.
This article originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.
