February 5, 2023 
“Caruso,” according to Urban Dictionary, is the act of adding melodrama to everything you do.
It’s an accurate descriptor of Katie Laurie’s Cera Caruso. The expressive 15-year-old Australian bred gelding, aka Elvis, has a flair for the dramatic.
“I’ve ridden Elvis for a long time now,” said Laurie. “He’s quite the character. He’s an escapee in the stable if you’re a little bit slow with the door. He’s pretty wild in the warm up, but he always gives everything in the ring. So he’s a very trustworthy, great partner.”
While Cera Caruso may be predictably unpredictable on the show grounds, Laurie’s approach with him in the ring is steadfastly simple. He goes in a rubber snaffle bit and doesn’t wear a martingale.
“He kind of likes to go his own way, so you just leave him to it and he knows that he wants to clear the jumps. And that’s the main thing,” she said.
The strategy has proven successful. Cera Caruso has been campaigned exclusively by Laurie at the international level, earning 21 podium finishes since 2018, including eight wins (Jumpr App). They collected the latest of those on Sunday with the $50,000 Brown Advisory CSI2* Grand Prix at Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA.
Twenty-seven combinations tackled Alan Wade’s 1.45m course. Ten advanced to the jump off, but only three pairs produced double-clear rounds.
Vanessa Mannix (CAN) was first to accomplish the feat, crossing the timers in 36.46 seconds with Valentino D’Elte. She was ultimately relegated to second place. Laurie was the quickest, completing the course in 35.70 seconds. Skylar Wireman (USA) and Citoki took third in 38.7.
“[Elvis] is quite quick across the ground,” said Laurie. “So he good around to the double and to the last, I actually planned to do six [strides] and then he jumped the second last and I was like, just be careful, don’t throw it away to the last. So I did the one more and it paid off in the end.”
International show jumping continues next week at Desert International Horse Park with Desert Circuit Week V.
