Wellington, Fla.—Jan 25
Jemma Heran likes to describe her time with Total Recall as a journey. She purchased the now 13-year-old Oldenburg (Totilas—Weihevoll, Sandro Hit) as a 7-year-old, and the pair did a lot of small tour classes in her native Australia building toward the U25 division, but COVID dashed those plans when shows stopped and Heran aged out.
So she changed tactics and took her string to compete in Europe, where she and “Toti” finally got in the CDI ring, showing in a four-star in Austria. Since then, she’s been based in Germany, and she’s traveled to Wellington to compete at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival since 2023.
Last season she earned her first senior win the Grand Prix Special CDI3* with another mount, Saphira Royal 2, and today she notched another one, this time with Toti. The pair won the Grand Prix Special on a 69.02%. Germany’s Evelyn Eger and Gossip Girl 9 were second (68.42%), while U.S. rider Erin Nichols was third with Elian Royale (68.38%).
Heran said collection has been a highlight for the gelding throughout his career.
“He can really piaffe a long time very well,” she said. “He’s very loose in his body all the time. You can give him a day off, the next day it’s like he didn’t have a day off—he’s very loose. I think that comes through in the piaffes, the pirouettes, these sorts of things. The changes are also a bit of a highlight. He can really do these on 20-meter circles.”
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She also praised the gelding’s concentration this show. He’s a horse with a naturally playful personality, but in the past sometimes that silliness has carried over from the barn to the ring.
“He’s really cute in the stable,” she said. “He’s like a pet dog. He’s super cute and super easy and everything like that at home. He’s very on when he comes for riding. He knows he’s at a show.”
Heran, 28, briefly worked as a corporate and commercial lawyer in Australia, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to ride three horses before work and finished her day with more riding that typically took her to 10 p.m. The long days coupled with a desire to both work and ride well meant she ultimately gave up practicing law—at least for now.
“I couldn’t do both properly. I’m kind of an all-in kind of person,” she said. “You do something properly, and I couldn’t do all of the things I wanted to working. … Horse sport is something where you get older and it gets more difficult, where the law is always going to be there.”
