Mark Todd and Charisma

This is a video of mark Todd on his famous horse Charisma at the Badminton Horses Trials.
Charisma was born on Octobr 30th 1972. In May 1983 Mark Todd tried out Charisma and loved every minute of his ride. He bought Charisma and took him home to get him fit and because he was a bit fat and keeping the weight off was quite a struggle. Charisma won his first two one-day events with Mark Todd, and then won the National One-Day Event Championship and National Three-day Event at Taupo (both of which he led after dressage and finished on his dressage score). The pair was then selected for the Los Angeles Olympics. Charisma was moved to England in February 1984. During the trip he became sick, and the illness never really left him for the rest of his career. The gelding was taken to the Badminton Horses Trials later that year, where he finished in 2nd place on his dressage score. Another satisfying finish came a few months later, at the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Mark and Charisma finished well after dressage, and then put in a clear cross-country and stadium round. A rail down by Karen Stives, who was leading by a few points, allowed the pair to cinch the individual gold.Mark Todd continued to compete Charisma in England, where he placed second at the 1985 Badminton Horse Trials, and won every one-day event of the season in which they competed, except Dauntsey after a fall on cross-country. In 1986, the pair went to the World Championships in Australia. Unfortunately, they had a fall at the water, and two rails down in stadium, and they finished in 10th place. They redeemed themselves a few weeks later in Luhmuhlen, where they won both individually and as part of a composite team.
However, Charisma never got his chance to win Badminton, as it was cancelled in 1987. He won the three-star in Saumur, and the pair almost won Burghley that year, but two rails down in show jumping dropped them to second. They later won the British Open Championships before shipping to Seoul.
At the 1988 Olympics, Charisma put in a stellar dressage test, and jumped clear rounds in both the cross-country and stadium. He won the individual gold yet again, and beat the second-place horse, Sir Wattie, by the incredible margin of 10.20 penalties. The New Zealand team also won the bronze that year. The back-to-back Olympic win in eventing had only been accomplished once before.
Charisma was retired after his second Olympic victory, and he went home to New Zealand. He then went on a six-month tour before taking a well-earned rest. He was later shipped to Britain in 1995 to continue retirement.
On January 7, 2003, Charisma was put down at Mark Todd's Rivermonte Farm in Cambridge, after breaking a shoulder in the field. He was 30 years old. Mark Todd has never had a horses as great as Charisma.