From: turowski@sophia.smith.edu (Petra Turowski)
Subject: Halla - horse of the century.  1956 Olympics, Stockholm.  LONG
Summary: Yes, I admit, Stroller was an amazing horse also!
Organization: Smith College
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 04:54:24 GMT

Every horse person in Germany knows the story of Halla, but few people
elsewhere seem to.  Please forgive any gross errors, it's been a while. . .
  
  It's the jumping competition in the 1956 Olympic Games in Stockholm.
The course is very difficult - no-one had a clear round.  One of the
last contestants is Heinz-Gunther Winkler on Halla, who recently won
the Grand Prix of Aachen.  Amazingly, they have a faultless round
until the second-to-last jump, the high wall.  As Halla takes off, 
Winkler screams and clutches his thigh.  Something is very wrong. 
The wall crashes down under Halla's hind legs.
  Halla hesitates - she is getting no direction from Winkler, who is
bent over in the saddle.  The last jump is ahead of her, the exit
nearby.  The spectators whisper to each other, then become very still
as Halla heads for the last fence.  She judges the distance, then
takes off.  Winkler screams again - he seems to be barely hanging on.
Miraculously, Halla clears the fence,  and then slowly, carefully,
takes her rider out the exit where their team is waiting for them.
Gently, Winkler is pulled out of the saddle and taken to the 
medical facilities.  Halla is being kept ready for the second round.
  The spectators are stunned.  Four faults may mean a medal for 
Winkler and Halla, and a medal for Germany, but what is wrong with
Winkler?  Will he be able to ride in the second round?  Did Halla
do the last jump on her own?! 
  Winkler's injury is diagnosed as a severely pulled or torn thigh
muscle.  He is injected with morphia.  The doctor advises him to
forgo the second round:  "You may never be able to ride again if
you do it now".  Against the doctor's advice, Winkler decides to 
continue.  He is quickly given more morphine, then he is lifted 
onto Halla's back for the second round.
  As Halla and Winkler enter the stadium, the spectators are very
tense.  There had been only two other contestants in the second round, 
who had four and eight faults, respectively.  Halla can obviously do the 
jumps, but several of them are higher, and Winkler will be of very little
help.  Halla knows the course now, and she tackles it.  There is not a
noise from the spectators.  Slowly, almost as though she were trying not 
to jar her rider, she approaches each jump, then clears it.  Frequently,
Winkler can't help but scream.  Other times he seems barely conscious.
Only the wall and the oxer left now.  The wall is considerably higher than 
before.  Halla bunches up her muscles and . . . she clears it!  The oxer 
is almost routine for her now.  Halla sails over it and the spectators
break out in roaring applause.  Zero faults, and it is the severely 
handicapped horse who delivers the only clear round of the day!  A gold
medal for Halla and Winkler, and a team gold for Germany!  Amazing!

  Halla became famous in Germany overnight.  Winkler did recover
from his pulled muscle and he and Halla went on to win many more 
Grand Prix.  When Halla was retired she was pastured near Darmstadt,
a city of ~300,000 people.  Nevertheless, she was so well known that
all her mail, sometimes addressed merely "To Halla, In Darmstadt,"
reached her.  (She probably could read it, too.)
  Halla was obviously a superhorse.  But before they met each other,
both Halla and Winkler were nobodies.  Winkler bought the plain, 
gawky, skinny, bony, brown mare, who seemed to have jumping potential,
for a song.  He was told that she was probably an Oldenburg, and that
she was a hard keeper.  She never did turn into a good-looking horse,
but she sure knew how to jump!   

  May there be lots more Hallas out there!  Petra 
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