July 14, 2016 
Some horses aren’t cut out for dressage. Like this horse, who isn’t a fan of musical interludes, nor non-alphabetic letter arrangements. Apparently.
The wallflowers of dressage, like our friend above, often find their niche in the hunter or jumper ring and some go on to achieve great things. Take Jill Henselwood’s Special Ed. He tried dressage, decided it wasn’t for him and went to win a Silver medal for Canada at the 2008 Olympics in show jumping. Clearly, it was the right career move.
It’s less common for horses to go in the other direction—from jumping to dressage. Megan Lane’s Caravella is an exception to that rule.
When the dressage rider stumbled upon the mare she was an eight-year-old sales horse at a hunter sales farm in Uxbridge, Ontario.
“I wasn’t actually horse shopping at the time,” says the 25-year old from Loretto. “I was just going with a friend because I had that day off. Then when I saw her, I absolutely loved her. I didn’t think that was the horse my friend was looking at. I thought, Oh my god, she’s too nice to sell. Who would want to sell her?”
Lane’s friend wasn’t as taken with the Dutch Warmblood. And, at just over 16 hands, the mare wasn’t an ideal match for 5’8” Lane.
“She was kind of a rude, bitchy mare,” says Lane. “She was very marish and she was too small for me. But I loved her.”
Lane did what every rider with horse lust does. She called mom.
“She came to see her with a friend who’s a vet and he didn’t like her either. I had my mom come back a second time and finally got her on my page,” she laughs.
Within a year, they put paid to any lingering doubts.
Lane and Caravella represented Canada at the 2009 FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (NAJYRC) and again in 2010. Both times, they were top three in every class, bringing home six medals.
After a quick stint of the Young Rider Grand Prix, they sashayed onto the world stage as part of Canada’s 2014 World Equestrian Games team for Normandy, France. Together, they helped the Canadian Dressage Team to a ninth place finish and placed 37th individually. In 2015, the pretty pair checked a Pan Am medal off their to-do list, as well.
“We’ve really grown up together,” says Lane. “She’s an extended part of the family. She’s basically a pet and to have her come this far is amazing. We’re partners for life.”
As for Caravella, if she ever decides to hang up her dressage shoes, a career in jumping isn’t out of the question.
“I think she loves to jump,” admits Lane. “At my mom’s place, she’d jump the paddocks all the time, just from one horse to the other, whoever she wanted to be with.”
Some horses are just meant for multitasking.
