February 16, 2023 
Katie Laurie (AUS) has ridden her fair share of hot-blooded, quirky horses.
“I think it’s just what I end up with,” she laughed. “I would love a lovely, quiet, [Grand Prix horse] one day, but it’s fine. At least [the quirky ones] really try for you a lot of the time.”
Case in point: Cera Caruso, aka Elvis.
The 15-year-old Australian-bred gelding is “wild in the warm up,” goes in minimal tack and is a consistent contender for Laurie. The pair has logged 21 podium finishes over their international career to date, averaging a 54% clear round rate and 66% top ten finish rate at 1.45m, according to Jumpr App stats.
On Thursday, they added the Morning Star Sporthorses CSI4* Normal Two Phase 1.40m at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA to that growing list.
“He’s only jumping today and then in the 1.45m on Saturday. So I kind of thought it’s a good class for him. He’s naturally pretty fast,” said Laurie. “I added down the first line in the first round and tried to get him steady and jumping nice and then he can just run and turn without really hurrying.”
While Elvis may not be everyone’s ride, it’s a type with which Laurie is more than familiar.
“A lot of the horses [I’ve ridden] we bred out of a Thoroughbred mare, so they’re quirky as it is. And then a lot of the horses I’ve ended up with just happened to be a little bit their own way. So I just manage with what we’ve got and make the best of it and try let them have fun,” said Laurie.
The mare that started her down that road: Flower Power, ridden by Laurie’s father, Australian Olympian Jeff McVean, in the international division. As Laurie was coming up the ranks as a teenager, her father opted to breed the mare rather than hand over the reins.
“She was really good, but she was quite wild, so he decided she was too much for me. He retired and put her in foal and it was the best thing that happened,” she said.
Laurie may never have had the chance to show Flower Power, but the broodmare proved pivotal to her career.
Flower Power foaled approximately ten offspring. Five of those foals went on to compete at the 1.60m height—Django II, Daffodil, Delilah, Delphi, Fairview Cambridge. Delphi took Laurie to the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky and the 2011 World Cup Finals in Leipzig, where they finished sixth. Django II was her mount for the 2022 World Championships in Herning.
“It’s the way that we’ve managed to get horses to jump on the top level without spending a lot of money because of having a really good jumping Thoroughbred mare and she bred really well so we were lucky,” she explained.
Flower Power passed in 2016, but Laurie continues to ride her progeny. There’s Django II, her top mount, of course. Nine-year-old mare Boom, out of Daffodil, is a granddaughter and just moving up to the 1.40m height.
“The mare must have bred scope enough and she was only tiny,” said Laurie. “But they really do try and they’re really careful. So I think that was the the main thing and I think that’s why sometimes they’re a bit quirky but they try that little bit extra for you.”
