May 10, 2026 
Ros Canter said she wasn’t at her best, three months postpartum, as she took on eventing’s oldest, biggest and most prestigious challenge. History will show otherwise.
Aboard her formidable partner Lordships Graffalo, Canter rode into the Badminton Horse Trials annals as the first to win the CCI5*-L three times on the same horse.
It’s the same horse that took her to team gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and double gold medals at the 2023 European Championships.
The same horse to twice capture the CCI5*-L Burghley Horse Trials.
And the same horse that, at 14 years of age, “looks and feels a million dollars,” according to Canter, giving every indication they’ll add future records to their resume.
“Makes him the greatest ever, doesn’t it?” asked BBC.
“I hope so because, gosh, I can’t put into words how lucky I am to ride a horse like [Walter],” replied an emotional Canter.
But as world no. 1. Harry Meade pointed out in the post event Chat Zone, that phenomenal consistency isn’t just a good horse. It’s the stuff of legacy.
“People who study the sport think that, Oh, well, that horse is the most likely one to win. But it is so difficult to get a horse to the start line,” he said, estimating that less than half of the horses aimed at Badminton in December were fit and in form enough to actually make it.
“Then to go through the whole week and not only deliver well enough to win it, but to do it in the style that she’s done it every single time—the horsemen, they know that it doesn’t just happen.
“And Ros is always wonderful at crediting Walter, but her technical ability and her coolness under pressure means that their achievement of winning three back-to-back Badminton’s—[they made appearances in 2023, 2025, 2026, winning each]—will stand the test of time as a legacy. Not just for Walter, but for her as an extraordinary achievement.“
With two rails in hand heading into the stadium on Sunday, Canter kept her nerve, piloting Walter to a smooth and steady clear. They added just two time faults to their dressage score to finish on 25.7 and clinch their third—and history making—Badminton win.
The enormity of that hasn’t quite registered with Canter yet.
“Looking back at it in a few day’s time, letting it all sink in, will be incredible,” she smiled, adding that it was a dream that once hardly seemed possible.
“When I was just starting out at eventing and I had a go at doing juniors, I really wasn’t very good. I’d been told to improve my dressage, so I did. I ended up doing the Junior National Championships and being in second going into the show jumping. I was so nervous and couldn’t cope with the pressure at all. I got a terrible shot going into the treble combination, wiped out two parts, stopped at the last part, and went from second place to about second to bottom.
“And so I suppose you can learn. You can learn to be good under pressure. It’s not just about learning to ride well, it’s all the other things that go with it. So anybody that does get nervous, if they still have the dream to do it, I think it is possible.”
Tim Price jumped from tenth to second on Falco with a double clear (33.9), while World no. 1 Harry Meade finished third on Annaghmore Valoner (35.1) to complete the podium.
Each, as the new mom pointed out, overcame their own set of challenges this week at Badminton. But only Canter was juggling infant feedings, baby brain and sleep deprivation.
“Harry’s had three horses to ride this week—that’s a massive achievement itself. Tim’s riding with a broken shoulder. So I think there’s always something that means there’s a challenge to even be here,” she said.
“I think having a baby is a fairly good one.”
