Charlotte Jorst Plans to Compete in Europe With 3 Horses this Summer Seeking to be on USA Teams at PanAm Games, 2024 Paris Olympics
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Feb. 27, 2023
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Charlotte Jorst plans to take three horses to compete in Europe this summer in bids to join United States teams at the Pan American Games and the 2024 Olympics in Paris and have along for company her best equestrian friend, Kastel’s Nintendo that she may retire from competition in a month at the age of 20 and nine years as her Big Tour partner.
Charlotte has relocated herself to Wellington, Florida to focus on up-and-coming horses–the spectacular Zhaplin Langholt that she competed on the U.S. team in this year’s CDIO3* Nations Cup was the 11-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding’s last competition at Small Tour.
She aims to move the horse to Grand Prix in the next three months with the help of of her coach, Lars Petersen. The horse is close to ready for Grand Prix, except for the one-tempi changes that she is planning to spend time working on.
She has her sights set on this year’s Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile with either Federle, a nine-year-old Hanoverian mare, or Straight Horse Cosmo, an eight-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding.
Even with Charlotte’s focus on the trio of young prospects and her clothing business that she’s expanding into golf from equestrian, she tears up when talking about Kastel’s Nintendo, that she bought as a Grand Prix horse and began competing at Big Tour in 2014.
Since then, the partnership competed at the World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2016 and on eight U.S. Nations Cup teams–all but one in Europe. They include two at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany in 2021 and 2022.
Charlotte admits she was always nervous before competing Nintendo at Grand Prix.
“Most people think he’s very easy,” she said. “He’s not an easy horse; never any consistency. The scores may have been consistent but he felt different every time. I never had that feeling he would just go in and be. In the end I kind of learned no matter how he went or how felt it still looked pretty good. But it was so taxing. I never had that feeling of peace—I’m gonna get it. I never felt that way. He was so strong in there I felt like my shoulders were coming out of my sockets. I knew it looked good but I was holding on for dear life.”
She plans to ride Nintendo in the premier CDI5* at Wellington next month, at the same time as there are discussions about retirement at the same event.
The talk about retirement of what she sees as “like retiring your best friend” brings her to tears.
Because Nintendo loves to travel, Charlotte said, “l may have come to terms with it by taking him with me—not to show him. Otherwise, if I put him out to graze he’ll be so unhappy. He survives on the trips and the riding. If I can do that maybe I’ll be at peace with it.”
The Pan American Games are at mixed Big and Small Tour so she could seek to qualify on either Federle or Cosmo.
Charlotte says she is happy with attaining her goals.
“I’m very much at peace with where the sport has brought me,” she said, “being out here and having fun being with my horses. I think I’ve come such a long way. I’ve really learned to ride, and that was my goal.”
