“I’m so excited and slightly speechless,” smiled Bella. “It’s the first time we’ve gone inside the optimum time at a CCI3*. She dug so deep for me.”
Bella Innes Ker on Carolyn
The top two remain unchanged, with Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street holding second on 26.7.
“He felt great,” said Pippa. “If you go out there and you’re not thinking about getting the time, it doesn’t put you in the right frame of mind. You need to ride forward to make these courses ride well at three-days.”
Oliver Townend and Ulises complete the top three. They also jumped clear inside the time to finish the second phase on 28.
“He’s very fast and has endless gallop, like [half-brother] Armada [on whom Oliver was second at Badminton],” said Oliver. “He made it feel very easy; he could have gone round twice.”
William Fox-Pitt, who first competed at Blenheim in 1990, is very excited about his CCI3* ride here this year, Oratorio II. They sit in fourth on 28.7.
“This felt so easy for him today,” said William of the nine-year-old. “I think very highly of him and he doesn’t know the meaning of the word tired!”
Australian rider Amanda Ross, who was first reserve for her country’s World Equestrian Games team, is fifth with Koko Popping Candy, while Kitty King and Vendredi Biats are sixth. The top 12 horses all jumped clear inside the time across country.
Kitty’s second ride, Ceylor L A N, who had been sitting in third after the dressage, didn’t seem to lock onto a corner after a table at fence four. After jumping the alternative, Kitty decided to retire.
The final horse inspection will take place tomorrow morning at 8.15am.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest reports from Blenheim via horseandhound.co.uk and don’t miss the full report in next week’s issue of Horse & Hound magazine, out on 20 September
An event rider has died as a result of an accident while cross-country schooling in the US.
Mother of one Nicolle Villers-Amatt fell as she was jumping a log fence at Morven Park International Equestrian Center in Leesburg, Virginia, yesterday (8 October).
The 40-year-old was treated immediately by medics and taken to hospital but her life could not be saved.
Ms Villers-Amatt had been eventing since the 1990s, competing up to advanced level (fence height 3’11”). She also rode the diminutive Theodore O’Connor, later ridden at the top level by US rider Karen O’Connor, at CCI* level early in his career.
Her husband Neil Amatt said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that me and my daughter lost my wife and mother yesterday due to a catastrophic riding accident.
“Nicolle died doing what she loved. It was quick and painless, and she was not alone – I thank Katie MacSwain for being with her. She was the best mother and wife any man could ask for.
“Details of Nicolle’s memorial service we will be announced at a later date. Please keep her mother and our daughter in your prayers.”
Mrs Villers-Amatt lived with her husband and two-year-old daughter Zara in Hamilton, Virginia. She ran Five Point Performance Horses, which produced young hunters and eventers.
Morven Park executive director Sheryl Williams said: “The staff and trustees of Morven Park are devastated to hear of the accident.
“We join everyone in the equestrian community in sending our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the rider involved.”
The horse Mrs Villers-Amatt was riding sustained superficial injuries.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
A young handler made her in-hand class debut a winning one as she scooped the supreme accolade at the North West Championship show with her Welsh section A pony.
Six-year-old Honey Ohara led out her grey gelding Gilfac Zac to perfection to be called top of the 25-stong young handler class before landing the supreme accolade.
“She was the smallest in there by a long way,” said Honey’s mum Chloe, who produces their small team of ponies from their home in Rochdale.
While she is a super keen young horsewoman, Honey’s early years have certainly not been without difficulty. At age two she was diagnosed with hypoglycaemia and has been in and out of hospital ever since.
“This means she can’t tolerate a lot of food and often has to go on a drip,” explained Chloe. “I’ve nearly lost her twice.
“Last June, she was rushed to hospital and had to have a bolt put through her skull as she has chiari 1 malformation [where the lower part of the brain pushes down into the spinal canal].”
“She is on daily medication but despite all this she is so dedicated to her ponies and she has so much enthusiasm. She does her ponies every single day unless she’s in hospital.
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“When she was in hospital last summer she kept telling the nurses to hurry up and get her out as she had a Horse of the Year Show qualifier to ride in. Three days after she was out, she rode in that very class. She is just incredible.”
At North West Champs, Honey also picked up two fourth places riding her lead rein hunter pony, before netting the top in-hand title with Zac in the evening performance.
“She declared a few weeks ago that she wanted to have a go at in-hand so she’s been practising non-stop,” added Chloe. “The judge told her that she has never seen anyone run a pony out so straight. Honey now wants to compete at the Royal Welsh next.”
For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday.
Character building and soul-destroying in equal measure, surviving a naughty first pony is a rite of passage. The Horse & Hound team recounts some of their early memories of life in the saddle…
Pippa Roome, magazine editor
“I had this pony called Fly (pictured above) on loan and he was a total saint except that he did have a wicked buck and drop shoulder manoeuvre which he used to drop me a few times. Mum and I spent a good deal of time chasing him across the common after I’d fallen off and I learnt never to let go of the reins if you fall off, which I’m pretty good at to this day.
“He also wasn’t shod at all when I first rode him and later only in front and he used this as an excuse to walk as slowly as possible at all times when on any sort of hard or stony surface. I remember going to my first show — me, a friend and Mum — and hacking there and back, which took about 90min each way for a pretty short ride.
“At the end of the day we were so exhausted and after we’d left the pony at his home (he still lived with his actual owners in our village at that point although he later came to live with us) we walked to my Gran and Grandad’s and basically collapsed into their house and they gave us drinks and food and drove us home. Grandparents are the best.”
Madeleine Silver, features editor
“Oh it’s all so humiliating, I’ve tactically deleted most of the memories of my childhood ponies. There was the Exmoor who would only reach the other end of the bending poles if his field mate was standing at the opposite side of the ring — a logistical nightmare — the New Forest who would put her head down to eat grass mid-canter so I would slide down her neck in slow motion, and the Connemara whose only reliable characteristic was that we could be certain that every show would begin with the commentator calling ‘loose horse’ as she made another break for freedom from the trailer.
“Piecing all those early ponies together 20 years on, I can’t help now wondering if these recurring blunders might have been more to do with my own Thelwell rider status… On the plus side, by the time I was in my mid-teens and had graduated onto a horse who vaguely did what I wanted him to do, I felt like I had been gifted a Badminton-winning prodigy. He was God.”
Carol Phillips, website editor
“I remember riding a beautiful chestnut pony with white socks and a flaxen mane and tail called Fly, who used to always have to be rear-file in the riding school because if another pony got too close behind him, he would spin round and charge at it teeth bared.
“Being rear file was fine until the exercise required the lesson to do something like cantering from the front of the ride to the back. I remember falling off him four times in one lesson when he spun around before vowing to never ride him again.
“Taking pity on me, my instructor agreed for a while, before deciding to stick me back on him much to my distress some months later. My riding must have progressed so I was slightly less of a passenger at this point, as he proceeded to be a total angle and I had the most brilliant lesson, including jumping a row of barrels for the first time. I was then hooked and asked to ride him every week until it was decided that I really was too tall for him and I had to move on something larger.”
Rachael Turner, news writer
“My first pony, Pippin, was a very pretty 12.2hh New Forest mare. She looked like butter wouldn’t melt but was an absolute minx. Her tricks including dashing out of the trailer backwards, galloping home on hacks and pulling off her bridle in showing classes. I wouldn’t hear a word against her though and was beside myself when I outgrew her.”
Martha Terry, sub editor
“Harlequin was a really zippy 14.2hh, thoroughbred x New Forest. I wish we’d had pony racing in my day because he was so speedy. He used to gallop everywhere, the moment he set foot on grass he’d tuck his pretty head in and charge off, which was great fun, until I took him hunting. I simply could not stop him overtaking the master.
“My hands were rubbed raw with blisters and I was crying with embarrassment and aches. I was finally asked to take my pony home, but couldn’t get him to leave the party, when a lovely master, the late Sir Willie Aldous, came alongside me, and took Quin and me hacking round the fields for an hour to try to get him to calm down so I could rejoin the hunt. He never did, but I remember that kindness 25 years on!”
You suspect your daughter is trying to tell you something. But what on earth could it be….? Let’s examine the…
Alex Robinson, showing editor and features assistant
“After moving from my first pony who was the ultimate little gem (an Irish bog pony called Sydney we bought from a dealer), I got a 12hh chestnut Welsh section A gelding called Cosy, who was anything but.
“He might have been small (and so was I at the time) but he was the strongest thing I think I’ve ever ridden in my life. I will never forget going in the Nursery Stakes at the Ponies UK Summer Championships, jumping the first two fences and then getting tanked off with a flat out gallop round and round the arena. A man who was standing at the side of the ring had to jump under the fence and grab him before leading him out, with me crying.”
Gemma Redrup, online journalist
“My first pony was called Treasure. Never was a pony so poorly named. My late grandparents left me some money, and aged six, I paid £600 for the 12hh chestnut mare. She was wonderful in many ways but had a real ‘character building’ streak.
“Her greatest accolade was being banned from our local Pony Club, the Burghley. The tipping point was at my first mini Pony Club camp in Burghley Park in 1996. Treasure had a fantastic knack of rearing up and falling over backwards (I hasten to add, there was no veterinary reason for this). When she did it twice on the final day of camp, her pièce de résistance being dumping me in a thick patch of nettles, the powers that be said enough was enough. And rightly so. Despite some great days with us and plenty of rosettes (usually for improving/trying rather than winning), she went on to teach countless tots to ride in our local riding school, where she fully lived up to her name.”
Don’t miss this week’s Horse & Hound magazine (7 June 2018) for our pony special, where top riders remember their naughty first ponies, and we find out how to find the dream child’s pony
For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday
16 year old Denman and Charlotte Alexander stride past the stands in imperious fashion 13-2-16
National Hunt legend Denman has been put down “painlessly” at home at the age of 18.
The 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner had had a “fantastic” life since his retirement from the racecourse in 2011 but had started to go downhill, his former trainer Paul Nicholls said, so the decision was made to put him down as “we did not want to see him suffer”.
Denman won 14 of his 24 starts under Rules and earned more than £1m, but “mere statistics cannot possibly do him justice”, Paul said.
“Denman was known affectionately to punters and race goers as ‘The Tank’ which I always felt was a fitting description,” he added. “He was a magic horse who had a tremendous following because of the wholehearted way he went about his racing.
“He was tough, hardy and willing, wasn’t the easiest to train and would bite your hand off in his box given half a chance.
“He came along at the right time and was one of our superstars during a golden era for Team Ditcheat.”
Paul praised Denman’s “never say die” attitude, and cited the showdown between him and his stablemate Kauto Star in the 2008 Gold Cup as a “promoter’s dream”.
“I feel so privileged to have trained the pair of them as they were two of the best chasers ever seen on a racecourse,” he said.
After his racing career, Denman went to the yard of Charlotte Alexander, who retrained him to enjoy hunting and team chasing, until he was retired fully to live at owner Paul Barber’s Ditcheat farm last year.
“RIP you gorgeous horse,” said Charlotte. “A horse who loved life and was as brave as a lion. Blessed in having the most wonderful owner in PK Barber.
Don’t miss our exclusive feature talking to Laura Collett about Kauto Star’s retraining for dressage in the current issue of…
“I was the luckiest girl to have had the honour of looking after The Tank in his active retirement.”
Paul added on social media: “Denman thank you for all the memories. You were pure gold. Rest in peace big fella.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
The latest edition (31 May) is a training special, including a look at the world’s top trainers and whether you should have multiple coaches. Also check out our summer clothing guide, interview with showjumper and recent winner of the Hamburg Derby Matt Sampson, and feature on health problems in miniature horses
A horse rescue centre is appealing for help replacing stolen tack after burglars made off with saddles and bridles worth about £5,000.
The Isleham Horse and Pony Rescue centre in southeast Cambridgeshire, established more than 25 years ago by Wendy Davies, is home to around 100 horses as well as 300 other farm animals.
Wendy’s daughter Hayley, who runs the rescue alongside her mother on a volunteer basis, discovered the items missing when she turned up at 4.30am on Sunday morning (July 1).
“I went to unlock the feed room as usual and found the door was open — I thought mum might have forgotten to lock it at first,” Hayley said. “Then I saw a lot of stuff on the floor and I wondered if it was the yard cats but when I noticed scrape marks on the metal parts of the door, I realised there had been a break-in.
“The first thing I did was check all the stables and fields to make sure the animals were OK and it wasn’t until I came back that I realised our £700 generator and fence batteries were also gone. It was a bit of a sad day for us.”
All animals at the centre have a home for life and the 75-acre facility operates an on-site loan scheme for rescues who can still be ridden. Clients calculated that 14 lots of tack had been taken with a value of around £5,000.
“There were random bits of bridles, headcollars and riding hats gone — including donkey brides for the retired donkeys we have who used to give beach rides,” Hayley said.
“There were tatty old headcollars taken that couldn’t have been worth more than £1 but they belonged to old horses of ours who have died and they had sentimental value.
“They only left a few bits behind and we aren’t keeping them on site any more,” she added.
The centre has since had some items of tack donated but has also set up a JustGiving page which has so far raised £1,280.
“People have been brilliant, we have a saddle fitter who has given time for free to come out and fit saddles that have been donated — we’ll hopefully be able to use some of them but what we can’t find we will have to buy, as it’s unlikely that we have a saddle perfect for each horse,” Hayley said.
The Conquest Centre for Disabled Riders in Taunton has been forced to cancel lessons after £50,000 of tack was stolen…
“We’re not a registered charity, so we have to go out and fundraise for everything.”
Most of the stolen tack was cob or full and included a 17.5” interchangeable gullet saddle, a black 16.5” Wintec and a Pony Club Thorowgood.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police confirmed that the force were called to a burglary of a business in Crickwillow Road, and that officers were investigating.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
A rider battling a severe form of cancer has made a brave winning return to the dressage arena
British Horse Society coach Clarissa Dawson was diagnosed with terminal leukemia last summer, and endured many rounds of chemotherapy, keeping her out of the saddle for long periods of time. But she made a triumphant return to the dressage arena against the odds last month, when she won an advanced class with an impressive plus-68% at Onley Grounds, Warks, with her mare Primiende.
“I’ve had the mare since she was a three-year-old and she’s been my saving grace,” says Clarissa who, a few days after her win, received the traumatic news that her cancer had returned. “We call her Girlie at home — she always has to put her mascara on — and she’s given me a lot of pleasure over the years. This class was a small thing in comparison to other things, but to me it was a very precious win, on my very precious mare.”
Clarissa, an equine tutor at Moreton Morrell College, trains with Dan Greenwood, who she describes as “fantastic”, and also credits Liz Rogers with keeping Girlie ticking over while she undergoes treatment.
“The chemo leaves you very weak, and my white blood cell count is on the floor so I’m open to infections,” says Clarissa, who hopes to be out of hospital in early August.
“But they’re very good here at the hospital and they let me walk around, as lying in bed you lose so much strength and muscle. I also have a pedal machine that I can use lying on the bed; it’s a hoot, and everyone thinks I’m a bit nuts, but it works!
“It’s all about psychology and mindset; it’s very easy to give up,” continues Clarissa. “You have to have a goal; not a ridiculous one — even if it’s just managing to get on your horse and walk for 20 minutes that’s great. Ultimately my goal is to ride at prix st georges [PSG]. I’ve got the tailcoat but it’s still hanging up in the wardrobe — I haven’t worn it. It’s my incentive to keep fighting, and I’m quite boneheaded so I think that will get me through.
“It annoys me that this has taken my life away and stops me doing what I want to do, but competing when I can gives me a sense of normality. I had a lovely day at Onley: putting the horse in the trailer, going out and being totally independent.
“Then six days later I had the ghastly news the cancer had returned and I was whipped back into hospital to be sorted out. You have to live for the moment, appreciate the good times and take life day by day.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
Businesswoman Katie Forrest steered the George Baker-trained Hurricane Harry to success in this year’s Magnolia Cup at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, raising vital funds for Cancer Research UK.
It has been a “whirlwind” few months for the design agency managing director, who stepped up to the challenge in May when one rider dropped out.
The Swarovski-sponsored charity race runs over five furlongs and involves a field of inspirational ladies donning silks and breeches to battle it out for the Magnolia Cup title.
Magnolia Cup jockeys
“I begged to do this race in March, but the riders had already been selected,” said Katie. “Then one dropped out in May and I got my chance to take part. Since then it has been a whirlwind to get ready for this, but it’s been worth it.
“I can’t even put my feelings into words. Mick Fitzgerald said winning [the Grand National] was better than sex and it really is.”
It was also a personal journey for Surrey-based Katie because her father Tim is undergoing treatment for cancer. Both her parents were at Goodwood to watch their daughter walk into the winner’s enclosure.
“It will be a big boost for my dad and I’ve raised £10,000 to do this, so to win it as well is insane. I owe it all to George Baker and his team, and Harry Hurricane literally carried me home — I didn’t have a clue what I was doing half the time.”
She added: “I got a good start, but the Bakers drilled it into me saying: ‘Nail the start and you will be halfway there’. I got to about a furlong out and thought ‘I don’t know where everyone else is but I’m going to keep going.’ By then my legs had gone and I was wobbling, but the horse kept going and is a legend.”
At 56, the Brazilian jockey shows no signs of retiring or giving up his title as the world’s most successsful
Candida Baker, the wife of the winning trainer, said: “Katie has been riding out for us for some months, but she only had six weeks’ preparation for this. We’ve had this horse for a long time and he’s part of the family — Katie proved to us that she was good enough to ride him.
“He’s a strong horse at home and not an easy ride, but towards the end she really got to grips with him. Two weeks ago, I said she could ride him here and she burst into tears — so then I burst into tears.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.
An 18 year-old show pony repeated his winning formula at last weekend’s BHS Royal International Horse Show (RIHS), 11 years after winning the same class with another rider.
Roseview Limited Edition (Eddie) a 14.2hh British riding pony was in the ring on 29 July with owner Sarah Chandler’s 14-year-old son George.
The pair were competing in the BSPS Pretty Polly mixed height show pony Championships on the Sunday.
Eddie had won numerous championships in his five years with the Hertfordshire-based Chandler family with eldest son Harry.
Now aged 17, Harry has moved on to polo leaving Eddie for his younger brother to compete.
The pair were pulled in second out of a strong class of 22 including a Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) winner. After their show they were put up to first.
Eddie has competed at the RIHS for the last 15 years.
On 21 April he qualified at the area 15 competition for this year’s show. “We so thrilled he qualified that day because I already thought this could possibly be his last year,” said Sarah.
Eddie’s 2018 triumph was extra special as 11 years ago he won the same title with previous owner Ellie Kivlochan.
“Harry had tears in his eyes watching,” said Sarah Chandler, who herself started crying the next morning when the win finally sank in.
George and Eddie competed in hurricane-like conditions as the rain poured down on the Sunday.
A few days earlier his mother was competing in blistering heat in another ring on her elder son’s horse Basford Cavalier.
They were fourth in the amateur riding horses class and fifth in the riding horse championship.
But nothing could compare to Eddie’s triumph, which was the perfect finale to his showing career.
“We will still ride him, but he’s now going into semi-retirement with us. We all adore this very special pony and he will never leave us,” said Sarah.
Also watching Eddie’s final win was Lisa Street, a riding instructor who has followed the pony and taught many of his riders including the Chandler brothers.
Eddie was bred by Heather Banbury and his early showing career flourished with Zoe Cutmore.
In his first year with the Chandlers he qualified for HOYS at the South of England show with Harry, then aged 12.
“He’s been the pony of a lifetime,” said Sarah, who looks after the ponies herself.
This year “because of his age he took a bit longer” to get into show condition, Sarah said, adding: “I put a lot of work into it, but it’s so worthwhile when you do get success.”
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday
A donkey found in Spain with hardly any hair is the saddest looking that Donkey Sanctuary staff had ever seen.
Flor was found in a town in southern Spain, when a neighbour alerted staff at El Refugio del Burrito about her neglect.
“She had virtually no hair, her skin was infected, her body covered in wounds and crawling with flies,” said Chus Moreno of the Spanish branch of the international animal welfare charity.
“She came to us easily and quietly as if she knew we were there to help.
“I was so sad for her, but kept telling myself she was finally safe, which was the most important thing.”
Flor was taken straight away to an isolation area at the sanctuary to ensure she was not contagious before she was introduced to the rest of the herd.
She was treated daily with medicated lotions and bathed with anti-bacterial shampoo.
Now turned out with plenty of shade and good quality food, she is making good progress.
Watch a video of the adorable foal, who has a lot to say for himself!
Tests show there are no underlying serious health issues or any viral or contagious skin disease.
Veterinary staff assume the alopecia and poor skin condition are due to the conditions in which Flor was kept and lack of care.
It will be many months before the donkey’s skin is fully healed.
The Donkey Sanctuary has 10 sanctuaries around the UK and Europe providing lifelong care to more than 6,000 donkeys and mules.
It also helps donkeys in other countries including Mexico, Peru, Egypt, Ethiopia, Romania, Portugal and India.
The charity’s outreach service provides veterinary care and advice on nutrition, housing, working hours, weight of load and welfare-friendly harness and cart design.
For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday
