#horsesoficeland flyingpace pace gaitedhorses equestrian

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The Queen of Pace

Charlotte Cook is no ordinary Icelandic horse rider. She’s the reigning world champion in pace from 2017, but more importantly she has pioneered a unique and innovative riding style when it comes to riding pace on Icelandic horses. This unique style, together with her incredible achievements in various competitions throughout the years, has earned her the nickname “The Queen of Pace”. 

As a brit, born and raised in Denmark, Charlotte competed for the British national team during the World Championships in Oirschot 2017, where she won 1st prize in the category of Speedpass 100 meters. She rode the beautiful horse, Sæla frá Þóreyjarnúpi, owned by Stald Lysholm, which she now has been training in her unique pace riding style for several  years. The interest for Icelandic horses has been on the rise in the UK in the past few years and the results in 2017 were the best so far for the British national team, fuelling the interest for Icelandic horses even further. Growing up in Denmark, with a Danish mother and a British father, Charlotte has always felt as somewhat in-between a Dane and a Brit, and competing for the British national team was a very special way for her to pay tribute to her father and her British heritage.

To learn more about Charlotte and the philosophy behind her unique style, we visited her in northern Sjælland, Denmark, where she works as a veterinarian and runs the horse breeding farm Bakkeholm.

Charlotte has adapted her unique style from when she was riding big thorough bred race horses and her position on the horse makes her an exceptionally aerodynamic rider – providing a big advantage in windy conditions. Many see Charlotte’s approach as the future of riding competitive pace on Icelandic horses. During our visit to Bakkeholm, we captured a few clips of Charlotte’s pace riding style as you can see in the video below.