HANNAH ROCKWELL HAS ‘PLENTY MORE IN THE TANK’

Hannah Rockwell’s name has always been there, just on the edge of the spotlight. Those who watched closely saw it coming: the determination, the attitude, the modesty, the quiet talent and all-round good sportsmanship. Then, almost overnight, it seemed to the outside world that she had simply bloomed.

In recent weeks Hannah has not only won the CCI2*S eventing class at Scone, but also the CDI3* Grand Prix Freestyle at Boneo Park in her very first CDI Grand Prix start. To anyone who has followed her journey, those victories are not a surprise; they are the natural next step in a life that has always been pointed towards horses and competition.

It isn’t said with arrogance; it’s simply honest. That mindset is woven through her story: not just wanting to participate but wanting to do things well and test herself against the best around her.

As Hannah’s ambitions grew, the logistics became more demanding. The horses were agisted at Mangrove Mountain, and the drive from Pymble – back and forth, with school and three horses to manage – was no small undertaking.

It became increasingly clear that if Hannah was going to pursue her sport at the level she dreamed of, the family’s life would have to shift around that goal. The decision was made: they moved to Arcadia northwest of Sydney and bought a property. At that stage there were three horses in the family – two for Hannah, and a dressage horse for Nicki – and the move meant that, for the first time, the horses were truly at the centre of daily life.

That’s when things really began to crystallise. Hannah had a Stock Horse mare called Matilda, originally bought as a hack. Hannah, however, saw possibilities everywhere. Matilda was soon doing a bit of everything – hunter classes, lower-grade eventing and show jumping, and dressage. She might never have been a superstar, but she was a genuine all-rounder, the sort of mare who turns up and tries in whatever you ask.

With Matilda, Hannah stepped beyond Pony Club and into the broader Interschool scene. She started competing at a higher level and winning, including multiple classes at the Interschool National Championships. Matilda was the horse who shifted Hannah from keen young rider to serious competitor – that special type of horse who quietly opens the door to the next chapter.

Her first dedicated eventer took her to notable wins, including junior classes at Wallaby Hill and Canberra Horse Trials. At that time, Hannah’s priorities were clear: dressage was something you had to do to get to the fun part. The jumping phases were the goal; the dressage test was the toll you paid to get there. In her mind, it was simply the phase you needed to get through.

That attitude wouldn’t last forever – but the shift was still to come.

While Hannah was chasing flags and cross-country thrills, Nicki had finally realised one of her own dreams. Her husband had bought her a beautiful dressage mare, Karingal Sienna – the forever horse she had always wanted. Sienna, by Sandrels (Sandro Hit) out of a Don Crusador mare, had serious dressage credentials and was intended to be Nicki’s own special partner.

Then everything changed in an instant. On a skiing holiday, Nicki ruptured her ACL and badly injured her knee. Her riding was forced into a long and uncertain pause.

With Sienna standing in the paddock, it was decided that Hannah would pick up the reins. The partnership worked. Hannah rode Sienna with success and, almost without realising it at first, began to take dressage more seriously.

Not long after this, Hannah’s father passed away. It was a devastating time for the family. Handing the ride on her dream horse to her daughter became something deeply significant for Nicki – a way of honouring both her husband’s gift and Hannah’s growing talent.

NO LONGER A SIDELINE

The move to Arcadia, made in the wake of his passing, was another clear line in the sand. Commuting from Pymble to the Central Coast and back was no longer viable. Horses, and Hannah’s sport, were no longer a sideline – they were a central thread in the family’s future.

It was obvious to everyone that Hannah wasn’t just a girl who liked riding. She was an athlete with the drive and ability to go a very long way.

Sienna was only a Novice-level horse when Hannah officially took over the ride. Within a year, Hannah had campaigned her through to Advanced, still feeling very much like she was learning on the job.

“I honestly had very little idea what I was doing,” she laughs now. “I was just trying to figure it out as I went.”

As Hannah’s dressage education deepened, trusted eyes on the ground began to quietly suggest something difficult: as lovely and meaningful as Sienna was, she might not quite be the horse to carry Hannah all the way to the level her own talent pointed towards. It was an almost unthinkable notion. This was Nicki’s dream horse – her “forever” mare, bought for her by Hannah’s father before he passed away. The emotional weight around Sienna was enormous.

For Hannah, the idea of selling the mare was confronting. “It was such a huge decision,” she admits. “She was Mum’s heart horse, and of course there was Dad’s connection too. Letting Sienna go really showed just how much Mum believed in me and was willing to support my riding.”

In the end, that is exactly what happened. The decision to sell Sienna was an act of faith: faith in Hannah’s potential, and faith that the memories attached to the mare would remain, even if she moved on to a new rider.

It was during Covid that the search for a new dressage horse began in earnest. A mare in Western Australia caught their attention – imported from Germany by Marjorie Radford, green but talented, going Novice/Elementary. As border restrictions tightened and loosened around the country, a tiny window of opportunity appeared when Western Australia briefly opened.

Hannah and Nicki took it. They flew over, had one ride, and everything changed. Hannah swung a leg over and felt something she’d never felt before. “She had so much power, elasticity and spring,” Hannah recalls. “I couldn’t believe what it was like to ride her.”

Along the way, a number of people helped shape the partnership: Lizzie Wilson-Fellows, John Thompson, Riley Alexander and, more recently, Brett Parbery. Each added layers of understanding and polish to both horse and rider.

Diorella has never been an easy, plug-and-play ride. Sensitive and spectacular but genuinely spooky, she could disappear from underneath Hannah in a heartbeat.

“We had to retire from so many tests,” Hannah says. “She’d spook and in a split second be facing the completely opposite direction! At one point it felt like we’d never even get through a test, let alone be competitive.”

But they kept chipping away. Slowly, quietly, the partnership deepened. Hannah learned how to ride all that sensitivity without shutting it down; Diorella learned to trust Hannah when the arena felt like a scary place.

“Now we have real confidence in each other,” Hannah says. “At this level, a little bit of spookiness almost helps – it keeps the expression and electricity. We’ve just had to learn how to channel it.”

Winning a CDI Junior class at Willinga Park two years ago was an important early sign, but still, Hannah did not picture herself one day piaffing down a Grand Prix centreline on that same mare. Yet that is exactly what has happened.

EVENTING ROOTS

For all the success in the dressage arena, Hannah has never turned her back on her eventing roots. At the moment she has five eventers in work: three of her own and two belonging to clients. Alongside her riding, she has started a small business to support her competition and training, all while studying speech pathology at university.

Her current string tells the story of a rider who loves producing horses and isn’t afraid of a full plate. Her three eventers are:

BOLD COINTREAU – A three-star horse by Contendro I. This horse was originally trained and competed by Shenae Lowings, who also bred him. He is a schoolmaster, really, to help Hannah learn the ropes but at the same time still improving and being really competitive. “He’s been such a great teacher,” she says. “He’s given me an incredible feel for the sport.”

Hannah is realistic too. She freely admits that Bold Cointreau may not be quite as naturally brilliant as her other French-bred eventer, but that doesn’t change a thing in her eyes. “I love him all the time, no matter what,” she says simply.

BIG EVENTING DREAMS

For now, the focus is on building a confident, educated three-star horse in Hermes Des Brandieres and taking things one step at a time. The main long-term goal with the gelding is to reach five-star level and then see what happens after that!

With a Grand Prix dressage horse in the stable and results coming in, it would be easy to assume Hannah might eventually drift fully into the dressage world. But when you ask her what keeps drawing her back to eventing, the answer is immediate:

“Because every day is a little different,” she explains. “Flatwork one day, gridwork for show jumping the next, arrowheads and water jumps for cross country, then galloping – it’s all-round, it’s all different and it keeps everything in perspective. From the discipline of the dressage arena to the freedom of galloping cross country – I love the balance of it.”

Hannah also explains that her love of eventing comes from the fact that so many people can compete on a more even footing. You can take an off-the-track Thoroughbred and be genuinely competitive in eventing; it comes down to training, dedication and the conscientiousness of keeping the horse sound, happy, and well in himself. The outlay for a good event horse is still within reach for many riders, whereas in dressage there is far more emphasis on the horse’s natural ability.

Of course, you can buy a dressage horse and train it to Grand Prix, but the financial competition to find that right horse at the top level is far more intense than in eventing. Hannah finds it exciting to see so many riders taking advantage of the opportunities eventing offers to be competitive without needing a huge budget.

Even her beloved mare Diorella  – ‘Princess D’ or just ‘D’ – has to slot into the eventing schedule. She comes along on gridwork days, cross-country schooling days, gallop days – part of the travelling circus that is Hannah’s weekly routine.

Not that Princess D is always entirely sensible. “Unfortunately, Mum has now banned me from galloping her on the track,” Hannah laughs. “The other day she did a leap and a pig root, got her hind shoes hooked in her tail, almost tipped over and I shot off her! So Mum says, ‘That’s it – no more gallop track for D!”

Eventing, Hannah says, never stops teaching you. “You make one minor mistake, and you’re branded for life!” she says with a wry smirk. “At Hermes’ first start with me we would have won, which was so exciting indeed… except… I didn’t go through the finish flags at the end of the cross country. Do you think people can let go?” Laughing, she says, “Well, I will never do that again in my life!”

At the recent Sydney International Three-Day Event with Hermes des Brandieres, Hannah had one of those weekends that leaves a rider thoughtful rather than disappointed. He had a great dressage test to place seventh and cruised around the cross country, feeling every bit the three-star horse they know he can become. But by the time they got to the show jumping phase of the long format CCI2*L, the effort had stretched him.

“He was tired, and his frame and stride were just that bit longer and more open in the show jumping,” Hannah explains. “It was something I wasn’t used to yet, and we had a rail down. We finished ninth in the end.”

There’s no drama in the way she tells the story, just calm analysis. “These are the things you can only learn by experience,” she says. “And I love that. Every event, every round, teaches you something.”

“I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t show our best piaffe for whatever reason,” she admits. “But the last piaffe on the centreline got a nine. I’ve framed that test sheet – I reckon that nine will go on my tombstone!”

It’s easy to see why. Diorella’s piaffe and flying changes are real highlights, and she can now competently perform all the Grand Prix movements with ease. As the mare becomes more rideable and confident, the picture just keeps getting better.

“She’s still spooky. She’ll always be a bit tricky,” Hannah says. “But now she’s way more confident with me, and we’re having a great time. Her little bit of spook actually helps sometimes – it gives us that extra expression.”

KNOWING WHAT’S UNDERNEATH YOU

If there is a single thread that runs through Hannah’s riding, it is her ability to read what she has underneath her on any given day – whether that’s a hot, spooky mare in a Grand Prix arena, or a bold French gelding tackling a cross-country track.

“Nothing really surprises me with D anymore,” she says. “I just ride what I’ve got in each test.”

The Freestyle at Boneo still carried the odd mistake, the odd moment of inexperience. But Hannah is in no doubt about the road ahead. A 72% with room for more gas and beating the Paris Olympic representatives in their first CDI Grand Prix Freestyle was a dream that still seems surreal to her.

“I know we’ve got more petrol in the tank,” she says. “We just keep working on it, day by day, and see what happens. It’s a fantastic journey.”