When Booli Selmayr headed to Germany to horse shop, whichever horse she found had some big shoes to fill. In June 2017, her top horse Jaeda died while competing at Bromont (Quebec), and the mare’s owner, Kelly Morgan, offered to help her find a new horse.

Though agent Christian Schacht had an extensive list of horses to look at, each night Selmayr kept thinking about the second horse she’d seen: a 4-year-old mare with an eye that seemed like it “looks into your soul,” a great gallop and jump, and an “incredibly game, enthusiastic expression.”

“I remember Kelly being like, ‘Well she’s awfully young. Do you want to get something that’s a little bit older so that you don’t have to start over?’ ” Selmayr recalled. “And, I mean, yes and no. It’s always a lovely idea to get something that’s going a bit, but I do love making up my own horses. That way I also know the problems I have are my problems.”

She ended up buying that mare, Urania. Though not the easiest, the Holsteiner mare (Uriko—Ulaga, Contender) hasn’t left Selmayr with any regrets. “She’s more than I sort of thought,” she said. “You buy a young horse hoping they’re going to be the one, and she’s even more so that.”

While Urania couldn’t have replaced Jaeda, she showed some similar qualities to the Thoroughbred mare.

“She is so fiery, and Kelly will sit there and go, ‘You know I feel like a little bit of Jaeda got passed on to her.’ There’s definitely that same kind of bubbling enthusiasm,” Selmayr said. “I just remember going cross-country on Jaeda, and she would just be like, ‘Listen do we have to warm up or can we just go?’ And there’s a little bit with this mare, too, where she’s like, ‘But I see other horses start leaving the start box; can we just go do that now?’ We do need to jump a couple angles and maybe a skinny, and then we can go.”

The mare always showed a lot of talent for the job, but training her required compromise to bring out her best. Aptly nicknamed “The Queen,” Urania can’t be told what to do. Selmayr has to make suggestions and frame her training as “this is what you get to do.” She never tells the mare she’s made a mistake and, instead, makes sure she’s clearer in her aids the next time.

“It’s been a lot of refocusing on how I approach that and give her a chance to take a breath, because the minute you start to try to contain it or control it, she just feels trapped,” she said. “You kind of go, OK she’s not trying to be bad, she’s a kid … who is ready to fly around everywhere. Don’t tell that kid to sit down, let it run around a little bit, and channel that energy, and all of a sudden we’re going to have a pro soccer player, you know?”

The intelligence and willingness to try that Selmayr saw on first meeting Urania served her well as a young horse. Once she learned a new skill, the mare acted as though she were a seasoned professional.

“The first time I went to show her water, she kind of was like, ‘Well that looks awful; that looks wet, and I don’t like it,’ and I was like, ‘No, no, we just walk across it,’ ” Selmayr recalled. “We had an older horse to kind of show her the ropes, and as soon as she got in, she was like, ‘Oh it’s water.’ And she just acted like she’d always gone through water. It was like OK, this is what this is, and I have no issues going forward.”

In fall 2022, Urania was on track to do her first advanced when she was diagnosed with a ligament strain. While the injury wasn’t dire, managing the high-adrenaline mare through her rest and rehab required care, especially when it came time to begin tack-walking. Urania was still rippling with energy, and Selmayr was cautious to ensure everyone’s safety, taking the process slower than she might have with other horses.

Now 11, Urania’s first event back was an easy romp around the preliminary at Pine Top Advanced Horse Trials (Georgia) in February before returning to intermediate at Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International, March 13-17, in Raeford, North Carolina.

The pair started the weekend in fifth after dressage on a 27.7. They had the fifth fastest time in the division on cross-country, adding just 2.4 time penalties to their score to move into second, a performance that proved Urania had returned to the form she’d shown prior to her injury.

“She has always been a cross-country machine. I call it a ‘flag-seeking machine,’ because she doesn’t really care about what the fence is. As long as I keep her eyes in between the flags she’s like, ‘OK I’ll figure out my feet,’ ” Selmayr said. “She just had the best time. I let her go on a bit. I wasn’t focusing on time this weekend at all. My goal was just to get her to go around, but she is an aggressive horse out there, and the more I fight with her to be less aggressive, it’s like telling a woman to calm down. You just go, ‘All right, I’ll work with you on this,’ and the great thing is that the less you argue with her the more she works with you.”

With a double-clear performance in show jumping, they took home the win on a final score of 30.1. Given how well Urania performed at Carolina, Selmayr hopes she can return to the plans she had before the injury. Her next big goal is the CCI3*-L at Bromont (Quebec), and provided that goes well, they’ll eye a move to advanced in the fall.

“I’m just glad to have this mare back,” she said. “It’s been exciting. It was great because once I took her out cross-country, I sort of forgot about the long, trudging 18 months leading back to this. So anyone going through an injury, just know, it’s OK. It will be in the past. Do your homework, and you’ll be fine. You’ll forget all that awful handwalking and ultrasounds.”