Equestrian: FEI World Championships Aachen 2026: Can an old horse learn new tricks? Colombia’s Roberto Terán Tafur certainly thinks so

At age 18, stallion Dez’ Ooktoff could be forgiven for taking things a little slower.

Instead, the oldest horse on the jumping start list at the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 is still competing on one of the sport’s biggest stages, and, according to Colombia’s Roberto Terán Tafur, getting better while doing it.

“You know what, he keeps improving a little bit year after year,” Terán Tafur (49) told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview in Aachen. “He’s at his peak right now.”

It is quite the assessment for a horse whose international career already stretches across years and continents. Terán Tafur and Dez’ Ooktoff have been partnered for almost seven years, competing together at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the 2022 World Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games, where they finished seventh individually.

“Tokyo was my first championship with him. It was a little bit different, a little surreal, but he always has given me so much confidence that we can do it, and he’s just a great horse.”

Just two months before arriving in Aachen, the veteran stallion is still improving, particularly in his speed. Dez’ Ooktoff had never been known as a particularly fast horse, but after Terán Tafur spent weeks working specifically on his speed and rollbacks, the pair won a CSI4* class in Traverse City in June.

Apparently, an old horse can learn new tricks.

That continued improvement has followed them to Aachen, where the pair qualified for the individual jumping final tomorrow (23 August) sitting eighth overall, a remarkable result given the strength and, dare we say, youth of much of the field.

The average age of the horses on the start list is between 12 and 13 years.

Yet Terán Tafur believes his longtime partner’s age is not necessarily a disadvantage. If anything, years spent together at the top level have taught horse and rider how to get the best out of each other.

“He has been all over the place,” Terán Tafur said. “He comes in there, and he just peels off the crowd and jumps even better.”