Two identical twin horses each won a BE100 section at Rackham Horse Trials – with a fifth of a penalty between their scores. Sacha Hourigan rode Caroline Richardson’s Twice As Nice IV (Ernie, pictured above) and Double Act IV (Eric, below) to victory on 16 June, finishing on her dressage scores of 28.8 and 29 respectively.
The twins are by Zenturio and out of Mrs. Richardson’s mare Hyanie d’Aubrie, who was first scanned as not in foal, then confirmed as pregnant but one of the embryos was “hiding” behind a cyst. Luckily, Mrs. Richardson was on the scene when “Annie” foaled and was able to pull Ernie, the second colt, out, as he was “bent double”, saving his life.
Both foals thrived and now the only difference between them is their height – Ernie is 16hh and Eric 16.2hh – and the fact one has a snip on his nose. Very often, people ask Sacha which of both horses is the best and she has an answer to that. People ask me which is better but as a rider, I have to treat them as individuals,” she said.
“Eric is tough and a bit arrogant, and Ernie is tough but might have a bit of a worry. There’s no love lost between them though. I said to Eric [at Rackham] ‘Your brother has just won’, so he had to do it too!”. She needs to be applauded for treating them equally and not answering the question of which one of them is better because they are both phenomenal.
