Yasmin Olsson Payne and Cos Me Will. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
In 2008, Yasmin Olsson Payne was told she would never ride again. An accident while hacking with friends left her with a bleed on the brain and bad facial lesions, and many 11-year-olds would have thrown in the towel after that.
Seventeen years later, a scar on her face tells its own story, but here she is making her senior championship debut at Blenheim – the first Norwegian to do so, she thinks, since Heidi Bratlie Larsen rode at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon.
Today she scored 37.2 for 22nd place at this stage on the British-bred Cos Me Will, who is just nine.
“It’s nice to have got the first phrase out of the way. It’s amazing to be here and he tried hard – a little bit tense, but he’s only nine and I’m happy with him,” said Yasmin, who is married to British rider Hector Payne. “It’s nice for a smaller country like Norway [to have championship representation] to help put the sport on the map a bit over there.”
Yasmin Olsson Payne and Cos Me Will. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Cos Me Will was bought by owners Paul and Victoria Clark for their daughter Zara to do under-18s.
“It wasn’t his original plan to step up to four-star and to be here,” admitted Yasmin, “and he tries really hard.”
She explained: “Zara was doing her A levels and I rode him while she was studying for her exams, and he was seven so we thought maybe he could go to Le Lion to the young horse world championships – we thought that was quite a big step for him, but he took to it really well, and then Zara went to university. For the first year we both rode him a bit, and then last year I had him completely to myself. He takes it all in his stride and he loves the cross-country – hopefully he will be up for it on Saturday.
“There’s a lot to do out there – it’s quite intense from fence six until you’ve crossed the river [the River Glymne, Blenheim’s main body of water, which is crossed twice] and there will be big crowds, which will make the fences even harder to read. He’s not the quickest yet but his stamina is a real highlight.”
Yasmin Olsson Payne and Cos Me Will. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Yasmin, who has a Norwegian mother but who grew up in Britain, said that there are quite a few riders in Norway competing at two- and three-star level, but going higher than that is hard, because of the distances involved in travelling to events.
“But I think we’d like to have a team for the Nations Cup series next year,” she said.
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