Lexington, Ky.—Nov. 10

The first time Dr. Vasiliki Harvey, DVM, CVA, took her Gypsy Vanner gelding Harold to a show last year, he attracted lots of attention for his colorful coat and long flowing mane.

“His first horse show we went to, his name was Harold, and all the girls and the ladies were running up to him and squealing, so I was like, wow, what a chick magnet! That might be the show name,” she said with a laugh.

That name stuck, so she and the 16-year-old (Clononeen Fion Mac Cumhaill—KF Vikarka) trotted down centerline today at the U.S. Dressage Finals in the adult amateur first level freestyle under the name The Chick Magnet, earning a 69.14% to take home the reserve championship.

Harvey, 52, is based in Erwin, Tennessee, for part of the year, which made headlines this fall for the flooding damage caused by Hurricane Helene. She lives just four miles from the North Carolina border, and the roads leading to her farm were washed out in several places, making it tough to trailer to the show.

“I had to unload him partially down the mountain, and my husband had to drive the bumper pull down the mountain because it’s too steep and slippery with the horse in the trailer. I had to walk him around the washed-out roads and reload him,” she said, adding that a bridge near their house was “iffy,” so she opted not to take her larger, heavier trailer with living quarters.

Harvey created Harold as an embryo transfer for a client at her former private practice, Equigen, an advanced equine reproduction center where she worked mostly with sport horses. 

“They didn’t pay me for it, and I ended up with him,” she said. “I was going to sell him, but his gaits were really nice for a Gypsy, and I’m like, you know, he’d be a nice dressage horse. I lent him to a friend to do some driving with when he was 8, and she wasn’t driving him, so I was like, well I’ll take him, I’ll geld him, we’ll train him for dressage, and I’ll sell him. My husband’s like, ‘You’re not selling him. I love Harold.’ ”

Now retired from her reproduction practice, Harvey works as an equine acupuncturist and chiropractor and teaches at Chi University in Florida where she bases for the winter, teaching other equine vets.

Harold wasn’t started under saddle until he was 9. Four years ago, he had colic surgery, which resulted in sepsis, then he developed laminitis from that.

“He survived, so this [finish] makes it even sweeter,” said Harvey. “He should have died for three different reasons. For two weeks he should have been a dead horse. He gave me a lot of gray hair! I definitely used my degree, that’s for sure. For the laminitis I did a lot of acupuncture. I do podiatry, so I did his feet. He’s completely sound. He’s on nothing, and he’s doing great.”

Harvey has ridden everything from warmbloods to Lusitanos to Arabian crosses, and she’s been enjoying Harold in the show ring.

“He seems to like this! He gets really excited,” she said. “Most Gypsys are really calm, cool and collected, and you have to really push them to go, but this one just goes. He’s like, where next? I just guide him, and he just does what I ask. You couldn’t ask for much more.”

They rode to a freestyle featuring music from “Austin Powers” and designed by Amanda Braun of Huf Beats Musical Freestyles.

“I said, I want ‘Austin Powers’ because he’s really fun—he’s got the bell bottoms, and he’s a man of mystery, the hair—and she took the music and did all of it. I just loved it, and the judges seemed to like it too,” she said. “The ride was fantastic. I was so excited. To show in front of some Olympic judges and have them give him 70s—he did everything I asked him to.”

For full results, click here.

Follow along with all of the Chronicle’s coverage of the U.S. Dressage Finals here.