Isn’t he a sight? Meet ‘The Teddy Boy’ a Gypsy Cob imported all the way from the United Kingdom when he was eight months old.

Once he was one of the top working stud Stallions in the Byron Bay Regions. Now 10 years old and beautiful in nature, Teddy has found his home with 13-year-old Lucia Varian, here in Orange.

A rare horse breed here in Australia, it’s even rarer to find a Cob with the impressive resume that Teddy has. Gypsy Cobs are known widely for pulling carts, though his Cob competes in dressage, jumping, hacking, cross country and he’s even tried his hoof at camp drafting.

Teddy’s future changed not long after Lucia spotted a flyer with his face on it, “I always loved horses though I had only ever had miniature horses. I saw these Gypsy Cobs on the internet, and I fell in love with them straight away, not long after we went into a horse shop and there was a flyer there with Teddy on it. He became my dream horse.”

“I stuck it on my wall, about six months later when my fairer came out I showed him the poster of Teddy and said, ‘this is my dream horse, this is the horse that I would love to get.’ He said, ‘Oh that’s the Teddy Boy, he lives just down the road from you.” If that isn’t meant to be, I don’t know what is!

“Mum and I got in touch with the owner, she let us down to see him and I just bonded with him, I went down there all the time to bath him and feed him.

“On Christmas I looked out the window and he was in our front yard, I just screamed and ran down to him, I thought we just had him on loan, but it turns out we owned him! When he arrived, he was pretty green, pretty rough, he didn’t have much training.”

Lucia continued, “I’ve done a lot of work with him, we’ve been teaching each other really. He can be very bossy and dominating, he’s certainly the type of horse that is going to teach you how to step up and I had to step up that’s for sure.”

Lucia and Teddy have been jumping just over a year now, which seems to be Teddy’s favourite.

“He’s proving to a lot of people, even in the gypsy community here in Australia that they are more than just Stud horses or pulling horses. People are shocked when they see us competing, they write him off before they even see what he can do. But, he’s always a crowd favourite,” Lucia smiled.

With horse competitions comes - the glitz and glam of it all - washing, and for this duo, only a mere seven hours and two shampoo bottles ensures Teddy is squeaky clean! “Cobs are a lot more work, but they are worth it. He’s like a little angel... most of the time,” Lucia laughed

Being one of the very few full bred Gypsy Cobs who are competing in shows and competitions in Australia, Lucia started an Instagram showcasing Teddy. “I wanted people to know what heavy horses can do, everyone thinks that he wouldn’t be able to do anything but pull a cart, he can jump C grade competitively, which is 75cm. I thought he’d get to 60cm, so he’s even impressed me.”

I’ve had quite a few messages saying, ‘you two are an absolute inspiration.’ “It makes me feel really happy, I just like sharing our story with people and telling people what cobs can do. Don’t underestimate them, they can do anything, they are actually really brilliant.”

Now, Lucia and Teddy have their sights set on competitions at The Royal Easter Show as well as Tamworth. Best of luck guys!

You’ll find all things Teddy on Instagram @the.teddy_boy