Horse & Hound – 01 August 2019

1 August 2019Horse& Hound 75

TEENAGERBEATSTHEGROWN-UPS

HEIDIFORD,13,continuedtoenjoya verygoodseasonwithher

12-year-oldmare,ContessaIII,whentoppingBE90sectionA at

DauntseyPark(1),finishingontheir24.3dressage.

“We’vebeeninthetop 10 inallfourofourrunsthisyear,”said

Heidi,whois a pupilatKing’sHillSchoolinCirencester.“Mum

bought‘Tess’tobea happyhackerin2017,butI soonstartedriding

her.I tookhereventingassoonasI wasoldenoughandI loveit.”

Heidiis a memberoftheVWHbranchofthePonyClub,which

meansshehasbenefitedfromtrainingwithCharlieHutton,Tom

Grant,JennaJewittandMelNorris.

“Tess canbesassysometimes,butsheis a lovelyhorse,”

explainedHeidi,whodreamsofridingatthe

grassrootschampionshipatBadminton.“We’ve

workedhardongettinghermoresuppleandless

strungoutintheshowjumpingand I feel like I’ve really

got to grips with her this year.”

ONETO

WATC H

‘THEVETCOULDN’TBELIEVEIT’

VICTORIABAXwasdelightedwhenhereight-year-oldgelding
AlbertasPridewonBE105sectionL atChildericSaddlesLittle
Downham(2),onwhatwashisfirstattemptatthelevel.
“I wasgiven‘Frankie’asa two-year-oldwhenhisbreederclosed
downhisstud,”explainedVictoria,whorunsa businessretraining
racehorses.“I backedandbrokehimin,andstartedeventing
himwhenhewasfive.Unfortunatelyit becameapparentthathe
couldn’tstanduptoconsistentworkand,whenhewasrising six, he
wentwrongandsustaineda highsuspensoryinjury.”
Victoriasaidthatthevetsrecommendedsurgery.
“ButI didn’twanttogodownthatrouteandsorehabilitated
himforninemonthsmyself,with the help of an ArcEquine
machineanda planthatthe
ArcEquineteamgaveme.”
Victoriasaidthatwhen
shetookFrankieforhis10-
weekscanaftertheinjury,
thevet“couldn’tbelieveit”.
“Theimprovementhe
hadmadewasastonishing
and he wonhisfirstevent
backafterhis
injury,”said
Victoria.“I
thinkhewill
go far.”

AGAINST

THE ODDS

I FIRSTmetMarkToddat

Osbertonin1980,myfirst

everthree-dayevent.Hewon

andI camesecond,whichfelt

thrilling.Embarrassingly,my

mothersaidtohim:“Sucha pity

youdidn’tstayinNewZealand.”

Ofcourse,it wasa proud

mothertalkingandshedidn’t

meanit likethat,butit would

indeedhavebeena pityandan

incalculablelossif Toddyhad

stayedathomefarming.

AnotherclearmemoryI

haveis ofhimridingHorton

Point,whomhehadneversat

onbefore,towinBadminton

in1994.WhenI wentacross

country,I keptthepictureofhis

perfectroundinmymind.

Inhis40-plusyearsin

thesport,Toddyhasbeenan

inspirationanda forceforgood.

Hisnaturaltalentandbrilliance

wasnotmanufacturedandhe’s

beena goodinfluenceinthe

wayhegavehishorsesa more

naturallifestylethanmany.

Fromthestart,hehadan

aura—everyonewantedtobe

withhim—andit wasnever

aboutbeingbossyorloud.

Hejusthasa naturalcharm,

humouranda magicalwaywith

bothhumansandanimals.

JUNG’STALENTS

FROMoneversatilehorseman

toanother,MichaelJungwasa

pleasuretowatchatHickstead.

Hisperformance—fourfaults

anda clear—couldn’trescue

GermanyfromNationsCup

disaster,buthebroughta lovely

fluencyandcalmness.Infact,

helookedprettymuchlikehis

team-mateMarcusEhning,and

youcan’tsayfairerthanthat.

THESEASONALFLOW

I’Mlookingforwardtoridingin

theadvancedatGatcombethis

weekend—I’vealwaysloved

competinghere—butit’ssadto

seesofewenteredintheBritish

open.Historically,thishas

beensucha prestigiousclass

wonbygreathorses:Charisma,

DarienPowers,ReadyTeddy

andAvebury,aswellastheones

I rode—KingWilliam,King

Boris and Call Again Cavalier.

Thereseemstobea

trendnottorunonthemore

undulatingtracks—ones

onceconsideredtheclassic,

prestigiouscoursesthatprepare

a horseforBurghley—as

theseasongoeson.There’s

noshortageoftakersfor

ChatsworthandBramham,

butaswereachedJuly,even

Barburywasdownonentries.

Hartpury,ontheweekend

afterGatcombe,hasa healthy

112 enteredintheCCI4*-S(plus

waitlist)andAston-le-Wallsis

alwayspopular.Bothareflat

trackswithall-weatherarenas

and both organisers work hard

ontheground.Afterprevious

criticism,Hartpuryproduced

verygoodgoinglastyear.

LikeBorisJohnson—albeit

ona differentscale—British

Eventing’snewchiefexecutive,

JudeMatthews,hasa lotonher

plate.Shewillbeawareofsome

disquietaboutthecalendarand

someunfortunateclashes,but

perhapstherealsoneedstobea

radicallookatthegeneralflow

oftheseason.

Ashorsesbecomemore

valuableandcostsrocket,

ridersseemtoberationalising

theirprogrammes.Eventhe

promiseofgoodprizemoney

doesn’tseemtoexertthepull

thatorganisersimagine.The

cancelledOsborneHouse

is a caseinpoint,asis the

EventRiderMaster’slowered

thresholdof 30 startersperleg.

Butthen,intruth,event

ridersarerarelydiverted

fromthepaththey’vechosen

fortheirhorse,forwhichthe

ultimateaimis a long-format

competitionandevena

championship.H&H

‘Toddy has charm, humour and magic’

Mary King salutes her fellowH&H columnist as he signs off from eventing

Andit’sgoodbye...

finalcolumn

from Mark Todd

NEXT

WEEK

ONLY IN HORSE & HOUND

OPINION

MaryKinghaswon 13 Olympic,

Europeanandworldmedalsasa

memberoftheBritisheventing

team and has won Badminton twice.