Harry Charles: “I Don’t Even Think I’m 10% of the Way There”
For Harry Charles, horses have always been part of everyday life. Growing up on the family farm, with his father riding, he was surrounded by horses from an early age. What began with ponies and a childhood spent having fun gradually developed into a serious ambition and, eventually, a career at the highest level of the sport.
Now, after an extraordinary week at the World Championships, Charles has added two bronze medals to a career that already includes Olympic team gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
What makes his latest achievement particularly striking is the way the championship unfolded. Charles did not arrive at the individual final as one of the obvious medal contenders. Instead, he fought his way through the rankings from a position deep in the standings, eventually reaching the final group and then turning that opportunity into a place on the podium.
It was a championship that changed dramatically for Charles as the week progressed, and, as he explains, the medal was far from his mind at the beginning.
“I don’t even think I’m 10% of the way there to what I would love to achieve in the sport.”
That mindset says a lot about Charles. Even after an Olympic gold medal and now World Championship bronze, he is already thinking about what comes next.
Growing Up With Horses
Charles’s introduction to horses happened naturally. His father rode, the family lived on a farm, and horses were simply part of the environment in which he grew up.
“It started pretty naturally. My dad rode, so I kind of grew up always having horses around. We lived on the farm, so horses were just very much part of our life from a very young age.”
He started riding ponies when he was young, initially with no particular thought of turning the sport into a career.
“We were young when we started riding ponies, and we had fun for a long time.”
It was around the age of 14 or 15 that Charles began to see things differently.
“Probably not until I got about 14 or 15, I started taking it a lot more seriously and maybe saw a career in it.”
From there, his progression through the sport was steady. He moved through ponies, children, juniors and young riders, gradually taking on bigger competitions and more experienced horses.
“It was all a very natural progression.”
Those years gave Charles the opportunity to learn how to ride different types of horses and, perhaps most importantly, how to adapt.
The Horses That Shaped Him
When Charles looks back at his career, some horses immediately stand out.
One of the first is Vivaldi Du Dom, an important partner during his youth career.
“One obvious standout when I was younger was Vivaldi Du Dom. He won an individual medal at every youth championship we went to. He was an amazing horse.”
Charles remembers him as an exceptionally careful horse, although that did not necessarily make him straightforward to ride.
“He was so, so careful. He wasn’t the easiest ride, but he probably taught me the most at a young age.”
Those lessons became an important foundation for Charles as he moved into senior competition.
With Strides Controe, he achieved one of his first major senior victories.
“With Controe, I won my first ever big thing in the sport. I won a four-star Grand Prix in the Sunshine Tour when I was 18.”
Then came ABC Quantum Cruise and another important milestone.
“Quantum Cruise came quite soon after, and he’s where I jumped my first five-star Grand Prix.”
It was a challenging partnership.
“He was very difficult to ride. Even now, I would struggle to ride him.”
But Charles also recognises how much the experience gave him.
“And he gave me a real leg up into the sport.”
Each of these horses arrived at a different stage of his development, giving Charles experiences that would prepare him for the next level.
Romeo 88 Changed His Life
Then came Romeo 88.
“And then along came Romeo, who really changed my life.”
Charles was only 21 when he was given the opportunity to ride Romeo. At that age, being trusted with a horse capable of competing at the very highest level was a huge opportunity.
“It was very fortunate to have Ann Thompson give me, at only 21, that opportunity with a very good boss. It was amazing.”
The partnership went on to become one of the defining chapters of Charles’s career.
Together, Charles and Romeo 88 went to the Tokyo Olympic Games, competed at the World Championship and ultimately reached the biggest achievement of Charles’s career at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“He started our first ever Olympics in Tokyo and went on to do the World Championship, where we won a bronze, and then he took me all the way to, you know, the Olympic gold medal.”
That Olympic team gold in Paris 2024 remains one of the defining achievements of Charles’s career.
But when he talks about Romeo, it is clear that the partnership means more to him than the medals alone.
The horse was part of his transition from a young rider finding his way in senior sport to an Olympic champion.
“Those are kind of the standout horses that shaped, I think, where we got to today.”
The Privilege of Balou Du Reventon
Another partnership Charles remembers with particular affection is Balou Du Reventon.
“We had a great time with Balou Du Reventon. That was more of a dream.”
Balou was already 17 when Charles got the ride, meaning their time together was relatively short.
“He was already 17 when I got him, and I got to enjoy a year with him. It was an incredible privilege to be able to ride a horse like that.”
For Charles, having the opportunity to ride a horse of that experience and quality was something he genuinely appreciated.
His career has been built through a succession of very different partnerships, and each horse has contributed something to his development.
From Deep in the Standings to the Final
The extraordinary nature of Charles’s World Championship result becomes even clearer when looking at where he started.
He had been sitting around the 50th position earlier in the championship, yet somehow managed to fight his way into the final group of 25 riders.
Simply reaching that stage was already a significant achievement.
From there, however, the story became even more unexpected.
Charles did not go into the individual final thinking he was a likely medal contender. His focus was initially much more modest.
“Round A was more about, you know, let’s try and jump a clear round and move up three or four places.”
The plan was simply to produce a clear and see how much ground he could make up.
But the situation changed once Charles found himself moving further up the standings.
“Once we were 10th after Round A, you walked the course for Round B and started to feel like, if I could jump a clear, I might not be so far away individually from a medal.”
That was the moment when the championship started to take on a completely different shape.
What had begun as an attempt to climb a few places had turned into a genuine opportunity to fight for a World Championship medal.
And even then, Charles was facing an enormous challenge.
“It was, of course, one of the toughest I’ve ever seen.”
A Medal He Never Expected
The most remarkable part of the story is that Charles himself did not expect the championship to develop in this direction.
Going from deep in the standings, reaching the final group and then moving into medal contention was not the scenario he had imagined when the competition began.
The initial objective had simply been to keep moving forward.
But once he was in the final, he realised that the opportunity was there.
“I knew I had a great horse, Freda, who was going to make it feel quite easy.”
That confidence in LT Holst Freda proved crucial.
Charles and Freda delivered when it mattered and finished on the individual podium, turning what had looked like an unlikely possibility into a World Championship bronze medal.
For Charles, the result was a dramatic change in the course of the week.
He had gone from fighting simply to reach the final to fighting for a medal.
That is what makes the achievement so striking.
A New Partnership With LT Holst Freda
There is another detail that makes the result even more impressive.
Charles and LT Holst Freda had only been together for around three months.
Freda had previously competed with her rider Julie before joining Charles.
“She did the World Cup finals with her previous rider, Julie. And then, you know, she came to me only three months ago and she had to learn a new system.”
In those three months, Charles and Freda had to develop an understanding of each other while preparing for a World Championship.
That is a huge amount to ask from a new partnership.
Yet as the competition progressed, Freda gave Charles the confidence to believe that the impossible might actually be possible.
“I knew I had a great horse, Freda, who was going to make it feel quite easy.”
The result was two bronze medals during the championship week.
The Team Bronze Adds to the Week
The individual medal was only part of Charles’s success at the World Championships.
He had already helped Great Britain secure team bronze before returning for the individual competition.
That made the week even more significant.
Two bronze medals from a championship that had initially looked very different from how it eventually ended is a result Charles can take enormous confidence from.
But perhaps the most important part is what it says about the partnership with Freda.
Three months after changing riders, the mare was competing at the highest level and helping Charles onto a World Championship podium.
Freda Will Get a Break
After such a demanding championship, Charles is not planning to rush Freda back into competition.
“She’s gonna get a good rest.”
He knows how much the mare has already done, particularly considering the change of rider and the short period they have had together.
“She did a massive championship, so she’s going to get a good break.”
The next step will be carefully chosen competitions later in the year.
Charles has two specific targets in mind.
“I feel like if we can target Lyon and Geneva for the rest of the year, I think that’s going to be the two shows for her the rest of the year.”
The plan is therefore to aim for the Lyon World Cup and the Rolex CSI5* of Geneva.
For Charles and Freda, those competitions will be another opportunity to continue developing what is still a very young partnership.
Still Chasing the Individual
The World Championship bronze also comes at an interesting point in Charles’s career.
He already has Olympic team gold from Paris 2024, but the individual medal had remained something he wanted to achieve.
“The Olympic gold obviously helps. It is a big one ticked off the list, but there’s always still the individual.”
Now he has that individual World Championship medal.
But rather than seeing the achievement as a reason to stop, Charles sees it as another goal accomplished on a much longer list.
He still wants to win some of the sport’s biggest Grand Prix competitions.
“I mean, if you look at some Grand Prix, there’s so many I would love to try and win.”
Among the shows that stand out for him are Spruce Meadows, Geneva and Windsor.
“I think the biggest one has to be Spruce Meadows, Geneva, Windsor. I think those would be the standout ones for me.”
His motivation remains straightforward.
“So it’s always gonna be more you want to win in this sport.”
A Career Still in Progress
Charles’s journey has taken him from the family farm, through the youth ranks and onto the biggest stages in international show jumping.
Along the way, horses including Vivaldi Du Dom, Strides Controe, ABC Quantum Cruise, Romeo 88 and Balou Du Reventon have each played an important role.
Romeo 88 took him to the Olympic Games and ultimately to team gold at Paris 2024. Balou Du Reventon gave him the experience of riding a horse he describes as a dream. And now LT Holst Freda has arrived with extraordinary speed, taking Charles to two World Championship bronze medals after only three months together.
The individual bronze is particularly memorable because of how unlikely it initially seemed.
From around 50th in the standings, Charles fought his way into the final group of 25. From there, he moved into the top 12 and suddenly found himself with a realistic chance of a medal. He then delivered the clear round he needed and turned that opportunity into a place on the podium.
It was a championship that changed direction completely.
Charles himself had not expected that when the week began.
And perhaps that is why the result feels so significant. It was not simply another medal added to an already impressive career. It was evidence of what can happen when a rider keeps fighting, trusts his horse and takes an opportunity when it appears.
Yet Charles is already looking beyond it.
“I don’t even think I’m 10% of the way there to what I would love to achieve in the sport.”
For now, Freda gets her break. Then come Lyon and the Rolex CSI5* of Geneva.
After that, there will undoubtedly be another goal.
Because for Harry Charles, there is always another one to chase.
“There’s always gonna be more you want to win in this sport.”
Valentina Sozzi Senn
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