Success Stories

The 1992 bay gelding Te Amo, now called Martez, was bought as a four-year-old from Ascot Bloodstock Sales after running 27 times on the flat and over hurdles for trainers, John Akehurst and Martin Pipe.

He is a very well made and correct horse by Waajib who began his polo career playing adequate low goal polo for two years before developing into a high goal performer.  He has been playing at that level now for several years and is a solid member of British team member, Tom Morley’s string.

Martez was a tough performer on the racecourse and is an equally tough pony on the polo field.

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Double Take Again was previously called Farat, when in training with John Dunlop and then Nicky Henderson.  He won once and was placed numerous times winning just under £20,000, after which he was given to his ‘stable girl’ at the age of six years before moving on to Ann Baker on a lifetime loan.

It took him a season to settle into the show ring.  He didn’t like the white rails around the collecting rings and would only settle at shows where the collecting rings were surrounded in ropes.  Now he has now settled in to the show world he loves being looked at and admired. 

Double Take Again has won the Riding Horse classes at National Level on many occasions and qualified for the Royal International Horse Show.  He is a winner at The National Championship show and has been placed several times at County level. 

He spends his winters competing in cross country events and hunts most weekends.  He is ridden by Sarah Cuff, who is a full time teacher living in London, and Helen Baker keeps and schools the horse during the week and hunts him in the winter

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Paddy was born in 1983 in Ireland and bought to the UK to race in 1986.  He ran from 1987 to 1992 winning three races and he was placed ten times.  He then hunted and ran in point-to-points for two years, winning again!

Linda Burrows bought him at 13-years-old in 1996 and he immediately showed talent for Endurance.  The further he went, the keener he felt and in April 1999 he completed a 50 mile ride to achieve Gold standard.   He had a really good year and went on to get his 60 mile Golden Stirrup award.  In 2000 they qualified to go to the Golden Horseshoe in Exmoor and won a silver award in the 75 mile class.  A kick in the field nearly stopped him ever competing again but he returned to Exmoor in 2002 and completed in the 100 mile class in the worst weather conditions for years.

Rostreamer (Paddy) won the RoR award for his success in 2003.  When competing he is wonderful and travels well, stables away with no problems and enjoys everything he does.  

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Pippa Funnell MBE won her first European eventing title in 1999, and soon became a regular member of the British Three-Day Eventing team, winning three European Team Gold medals, Olympic Team Silver in Sydney and Team Silver and Individual Bronze at the Athens Olympics.

She has three ex-racehorses, Ensign, Blue Horizon and Special Constable, all of whom raced and are now doing well in the Event world.  In September 2007, Pippa made a successful appearance at the South of England Horse Trials piloting all three horses into the top 11 in the 55-strong CIC**.  Pippa and Ensign posted the only sub-40 dressage mark and were never headed.  She also finished fifth on Blue Horizon and 11th on Special Constable.

“To me there is nothing better than a quality thoroughbred,” says Pippa. 

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Swift Alliance was born in 1997.  He raced as a two-year-old, was gelded as a three-year-old and won one race at Folkestone.  He lacked speed for any major races and was sold ‘out of training’ by trainer Lady Herries.

Jonathan Swift who runs a livery yard bought Swift Alliance in 1999 and after re-educating the horse tried him in Riding Club competitions.  He won his first dressage test with 75%, followed by two clear show jumping rounds.  He went on to win with the West Sussex Riding Club team at the Royal International Horse Show, and is now jumping at Foxhunter level with winnings of over £300.  He is also the winner of the Retrained Racehorse Championship at Addington in September 2007.

Jonathan hopes he will go on to win more points and prize money show jumping in the future.

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“Bruzella is by Hernanado and out of Hills Presidium and was in training briefly with John Gosden and then with Alistair Lidderdale. She raced twice but was always weak and so her owner decided to retire her and that’s where I came in.

Bruzella came to me at Easter in 2004.  I’m no expert and had never brought a horse on before but luckily I’ve got lots of help and support and so began one big adventure.  It’s been a mixture of hard work, a bit of heartache, some frustration and a big challenge but most importantly it’s always been rewarding and we’ve had a huge amount of fun. 

It’s taken a while to get from our first dressage test (when getting on was still a bit problematical, we cleared the warm up area with wild behaviour and just staying in the arena was good enough) to where we are now (dipping a toe into some affiliated dressage competitions) but we seem to have an understanding.  This is based on me understanding that she is intelligent and must never be bored, that she has an opinion on everything (which may not always agree with mine), that she is absolutely the boss in the field, and finally and perhaps most importantly, that no one has ever told her she is anything other than a big horse (at just over 15.1……).   In return I get a horse who is never boring and who is loads of fun, who has taken me to places I didn’t even realise I wanted to go, and who has taught me an enormous amount.

I’m looking forward to the future, we’ve still got lots of work to do and fun to have.  And a big thank you to those who have helped us along the way and continue to do so.”

Jo Hawkins 

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Vindaloo ran thirty times equalling the twentieth century record for the number of handicaps won in a season. After an unsuccessful hobday operation, he was retired from Jimmy Harris’ yard in Melton by owner Mrs David Abel.

Matthew Worthington was a ‘lad’ at the yard of Jimmy Harris during the time that Vindaloo was in training there. He had changed jobs to become a scaffolder but continued to ride and achieved International team status in the British Horseball Team with his TB mare (of 15.1hh). The scaffolding job had increased Matt’s weight considerably so when Vindaloo was spotted in a field looking suitably bored playing nanny to an old pony he asked if he could use him for horseball.

Vindaloo gave Matthew and his Nottingham first division team British Horseball League Cup victory in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He also partnered Matthew and British Ladies rider Donna Allen at Sheffield BSJA Open Championships International Horseball Clubs competition in 2003 and 2004.

Internationally, Vindaloo competed in the British Team at the Salon de Cheval in 2001, Beja (Portugal) in 2002 and Reguengos de Monsaraz (Portugal) in 2003.

During his International years, he also hunted with the South Notts and competed in local dressage competitions through the winter.

After retiring from International competition, he took novice Nottingham riders Brett Perkins and Lee North to Novice and Second Division league wins in 2006 and 2007. He is currently fit and ready to start a new Horseball season in April 2008.

At the age of 15, he continues to perform incredibly well with amazingly clean legs and a heart as big as a lion.

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All the so-called ‘horsey’ crowd were so keen to advise:
‘Get yourself a solid cob, that would be very wise.
Something slow and sensible. That type’s an ideal hack.
And stay away from thoroughbreds, especially off the track!’

She came straight out of racing, a big, long-distance horse, In thirty starts she’d done her job and always stayed the course, Still racing fit, I took her home - they thought I’d lost the plot. ‘That thing will break your neck,’ they said. ‘It’s bound to be too hot.’

But here’s an honest story, set out in shortish rhyme,
Before you write off thoroughbreds, please stop and take the time To read these little stanzas, which tell a homespun truth: You have to eat a pudding before you have your proof.

FOR:

Lorries, buses, bikes and trains all go speeding by,
My racing thoroughbred never bats an eye.

Pigeons, pheasant, geese and ducks fly up in her face,
My racing thoroughbred hardly checks her pace.

Flapping plastic, banging doors, puddles dark and wide, 
My racing thoroughbred takes them in her stride.

Oh yes, you’ll know you’re galloping when she hits fifth gear, But my racing thoroughbred doesn’t buck or rear.

A lady in the stable, she leads and loads with ease,
My racing thoroughbred always tries to please.

First time at a local show, stomach tense with fear,
My racing thoroughbred jumps a double clear.

On pleasure or endurance rides while others loose their cool My ‘scary’ thoroughbred never acts the fool.

Versatile, intelligent, sensitive yet bold,
My racing thoroughbred – worth her weight in gold.

© Jan Collie
8/3/2004

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Master Francis was sold as a yearling in 1983 to trainer Mike Blanshard for 9,800gns.  He ran 30 times from two years to four-years-old and was placed on ten occasions.  In 1986, he was bought privately by David Woodd as the owner did not wish him to go through the sale ring.  After being retrained into a polo pony by John Smail, Master Francis was in the winning European Cup team in Berlin and in the winning team in the Harrison Cup at Cowdray, ridden by David Woodd. 

In 1996, ‘Frankie’ retired from polo to lead the children’s ponies and during this time he went hunting, team chasing and took part in some hunter trials.  He also returned to polo for awhile with Matilda(13 years) to ride in pony club polo playing for the Old Berks Surtees team.

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Obee was born in 1998 at my Aunt’s farm in Somerset.  His three-year-old season was foot and mouth year so he went straight from being long reined around the farm to Bill Turner’s yard at Sigwells, Sherborne. When he first went into training he bucked every day for a fortnight.  I really didn’t want to get on him and I used say to the other lads that I hoped Obee would be good today.  Hence when I sent his details to Weatherbys to register a name Obee Good was my first option!

As I wanted to ride Obee in amateur races on the flat I first had to get him handicapped. He was ridden in his first race at Warwick by my cousin, Richard Perham whose mother bred Obee.  I only rode him once as a three-year-old and I couldn’t hold one side of him!  The following year he went back into training and ran a few more times, but we couldn’t get him into the right race.  He then unfortunately injured a ligament in his hind leg and I had to give him nine months off to recover, following which I decided not to put him back into training as he was rated too low.  There have been times when I have thought about it again as sometimes progress during retraining has been very slow.

As he used to pull very hard and had to go down early in his races, I decided that if he was to become a riding horse I would have to spend some time teaching him to understand about real brakes and steering!  I spent several months schooling him and hacking him about before taking him to a local dressage competition where he didn’t disgrace himself at all but was a bit too keen still.  I continued to persevere and joined the local riding club. 

We got a few places in unaffiliated dressage and won and was third at our local riding club dressage competition.  This was followed by his second experience of showing at the BSPS Area13b show where we qualified for the RoR class at the Hickstead Derby meeting!  He was also 2nd in the Novice Riding Horse competition at the same show.

Obee Good is now multi talented!  As well as being placed in dressage and showing he has also had success in his only two endurance rides getting Graded both times.  He has also been selected to be in the Riding Club dressage to music team.  Proving that even a buzzy ex-racehorse can be successful in other disciplines!”
Written by ?

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Dora was bred to race.  She is by Gildoran, twice winner of the Ascot Gold Cup, out of Ice Moon by Ballymoss – second in the Derby, winner of the St Leger and the Arc de Triomphe.  She shares her 3rd dam, Arctic Pearl with Florida Pearl.  She is home bred, as were her dam and grand dam.

Dora is small, approximately 15 hands.  In 1996, due to unfortunate business circumstances, she went to Malvern Sales where she was bought to do endurance riding.  Two years later someone else bought her at Salisbury market and rung her previous racehorse trainer, Mary Rimmell, to find out more about her, who said that if she wanted to sell her she wanted first refusal.  Six months later, she arrived back at home.

Mary hadn’t ridden for seven years so spent the first couple of years hacking around followed by a first pleasure ride at Cirencester in 2002.  They then got to Grade I and competed in 14 rides, all Graded, achieving nine Grade 1’s, before upgrading to Advanced.  In the early days Dora’s heart beat was high, as much as 58 on arrival.  This improved and she is so relaxed her heart beat has been as low as 30 on arrival.  At Alfred’s Tower in 2004, where they won the RoR’s prize, her heart beat was 40 on arrival and she finished on a heart rate of 40 in an average time of 11.59k on the 51K graded ride. 

Mary Rimmell said:  “I have always ridden thoroughbred horses.  They are so willing and will always try and do their best, and are faster than Arabs and have stamina.  There are so many ex-racehorses who would make marvellous Endurance horses, and would probably adapt to Endurance better than any other disciplines.  They do need patience and sympathetic riders.  If you are a nervous rider, then an ex-racehorse is probably not for you, but if you are young and want to get to the top an ex-racehorse could be an ideal solution.  My farrier who looks after the British Endurance team, has remarked that with a better jockey, Dora could go right to the top!  40 years ago I would have been there.  65K with a Grade 1 is the best I have achieved so far, with Dora quite fit to go on.  The rider is usually wilting by this time!” 

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Bred by his owner, Judy Maitland-Jones, Lord Buckingham’s dam, Lady Buck, is the dam of several winners on the racecourse and is a half-sister to Buck House, who won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

Lord Buckingham has the most divine temperament and won his first event after only being with William Fox-Pitt for two months, and consistently does the best dressage.
Lord Buckingham and William Fox-Pitt finished 2nd in the first ‘Racehorse Trainers Event Series’ at Barbury Castle in 2007.  He enjoys a well earned rest after the busy eventing seasons at home with his owner.

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When Grey Record (Jake to his friends) was first purchased by his owner (name), he would only canter on the right rein and stopped at every fence first time. He was a horse that required a lot of time and effort spent on him.

As a racehorse he was trained by Mrs M Reveley and raced twenty times. He never actually won a race but did come second a couple of times.

Grey Record and (name of owner) competed in the main arena at Hickstead twice whilst representing the Brocklesby Pony Club in the Senior Showjumping team, and represented the Pony Club at Area level in Dressage and Eventing.

In recent years Grey Record came 3rd at the Winter Dressage Championships in the Petplan Preliminary Area Festival. As well as doing well in the Riding Clubs Festival of the Hunter, Senior Horse Trials Three Day Event Championship, and winning a RoR prize in a Dressage Championship.

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Light The Fuse or "Bombie" as he is affectionately known to his friends has successfully made the transition from racehorse to riding horse.

During his racing career Bombie incurred several nasty injuries but bounced back from them all.  He has had bone chips removed from both knees, severed a tendon and has fractured a knee. However in December 2002 the decision to retire him was made as it was evident that recurring back problems were causing him far too much discomfort.  What started as an extremely promising racing career was plaqued by injury but his owners acted responsibly and put the welfare of their horse first.  After several months of rest the rehabilitation process began.

By the summer of 2004 Bombie made his first appearance in the dressage arena, albeit at unaffiliated level.  Since then he has thrived and this is our story during the last year. 

Bombie's last outing in April 2007 gained him a super first place and good tests during June secured his place at the Summer Regionals, all tests attaining 65% and over. However the remainder of the year did not pan out as we had hoped. Bombie's last outing in April gained him a super first place and good tests during June secured his place at the Summer Regionals, all tests attaining 65% and over. However the remainder of the year did not pan out as we had hoped.
                                                                           
The sense of occasion was all too much for Bombie at the College for the Regionals.  Although he behaved himself, he was quite tense so his test was not the best he had ever done.  However, 2 of the judges (one of which was "The Master" himself, John Lassetter) scored us quite reasonably but the third judge was incredibly harsh which pulled our score right down!  All we could do was put the day down to experience!

Later on in August Bombie performed 2 dreadful tests at one of his usual venues - somewhere where he felt "at home".  He did not feel right at all and in the arena he was four-tracking; it was clear all was not well and Bombie was not a happy bunny.

A thorough check from Bombie's chiropractor, Georgina Sim, revealed he had managed to rotate his pelvis so his one hip was not only dropped but pushed forward.  No wonder he didn't perform well!  With treatment from Georgina and some massage sessions from Phillippa Coles (Massage4Horses International) after about 3 weeks Bombie was back on the road.

By this time we had had a change of trainer to Natalie Bushell.  Our time business wise was
at a absolute premium and we were finding it difficult to travel to training clinics; Natalie was
prepared to come to us so we were able to take great advantage of this and train with
"Oscar", our warmblood for competing with in 2008.

We took Bombie to Laughton Manor where, as far as we were concerned, he went beautifully but he only scored 62.50% which was very disappointing especially after several people had approached us and declared us to be the winners!! C'est la vie.  We were pleased with our
performance on the day - and that is what matters most.

Bombie felt fabulous and looked it too.  His back was clearly ok so off we went to Vale View.

Bombie was incredible.  He couldn't have behaved or gone better if we'd paid him!  He was so
responsive; he just sang!

Whatever I felt, the judge clearly saw it too as Bombie achieved a superb 70%!  We couldn't have cared less about the placing - it was the score and comments which meant so much.  But in most situations a 70% if not the winning score, is a damn good second; it was only
enough for a 4th place that day; so what!

Naturally we were very fired up and thoughts turned to elementary but once again fate dealt us a blow.  We had taken Bombie to the College early in November and most unusually for him, he was backing off the leg.  Normally at a competition Bombie is so forward, it’s a case of slowing him down but this day he seemed more like hard work!  The first test didn't go that well and the second was a walking disaster with Bombie virtually giving up the ghost going up the centre line.  The little horse just was not himself.  Nonetheless the first test earned him a very creditable 65.4% so we were happy about that, but not happy that Bombie was not as he should be.

We put Bombie on the easy list for a few days but far from perking him up, he actually went off his food.  Blood tests did not reveal anything so we decided to give Bombie a complete week off with all-day turnout.  He loved playing with his little friend Thomas but for a few days his appetite did not improve.  However, with gradual tempting with tasty morsals and Bombie's absolute favourite food of all - soaked oats - we gradually got him eating again. 

This brought us to December by which time Bombie was most definitely firing on all cyclinders once again.  On a hideously wet and windy day we set off to the College.  What possessed us, goodness only knows but as we pulled into the entrance the rain stopped and the skies brightened; it's just a pity the wind didn't stop - the arena boards were everywhere!

Unperturbed we set about our test with dogged determination, Bombie bracing himself against the wind!  ¾ of the way through a huge gust shook all the bushes at the end of the arena - all too much for Bombie and off he shot!!!  It took 2 movements to regain our control and compose.  What a pity as the test had felt pretty good.  At the end the judge called us back!  Oh no, what had we done (or not done)!  We need not have been concerned as a lovely conversation ensued which was full of encouragement.  What a huge shame about our display, as the score came through of 64% (4th place) - with the missed movements scoring 2 and 0 points.  We can only speculate what might have been!

3 days later we were fortunate enough to attend a Paul Hayler clinic.  We had our work cut out and Mr. Hayer was firm, demanding but fair.  A replay of the video verified that we also received some "well done"s" and "well ridden". 

We were all set for our postponed elementary debut on 6th January 2008 but this time flu struck - me!! I could hardly stand let alone ride a horse. I was pretty rough for a few days but Bombie didn't mind as he had fun anyway!  Never mind, we have another Paul Hayler clinic to look forward to on 14th January and the elementary debut is now scheduled for 23rd!    

Written by RoR consultant Rowena Cook, Equine Management & Training

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“I visited HEROS and was shown Jonmar, a half brother of the Grand National winner Numbersixvalverde; I rode him in the school, jumped him and hacked him out. An invitation followed to a combined training show to watch Jonmar compete there by one of Grace’s professional staff.

I was smitten and I became the proud owner of a quality show horse with movement to match. He was exactly as described and there were no hidden extras. I absolutely dote on him and in his first season he went cubbing 7 times, had 15 days hunting, went hunter trialling and has now won £120 under BSJA rules.

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She was curled up like a kitten on a huge bed of straw, a dark, unprepossessing mare, at first sight, who simply blinked at the intruder disturbing her afternoon nap.

 

I peered over the stable door, unimpressed.   I didn’t want a thoroughbred.  I didn’t want a mare.  I certainly didn’t want anything out of racing. What on earth I was doing at a racing yard, I didn’t really know. The sheer madness that is wanting a horse and wanting it right now had me in its grip, though an impractical  taste for life’s finer things should be taken into consideration.

 

Snatches of conversation stay with me. ‘National Hunt’, ‘Three Miler’. The trainer’s wife was talking the language of the business.  All I knew was that this was one big horse, when it stood up. The liquid brown eyes turned on me.  Just another human watching it being cross tied so its rugs could be taken off. Viewing it as it was trotted up and down the yard. Another day, another duty.

 

‘So what’s she like?’  ‘You’d have to be very unlucky to come off Carol,’ said her Lass.  ‘So what’s she like?’ I asked her trainer. ‘She’s a honey,’ he replied, with a self-conscious smile.  I didn’t quite believe them.  I’d been sold pups before. But they gave me a good trial and two weeks’ approval on home territory, which was more than any private seller had ever offered.

 

We spent a year getting to know each other, my incompetence so often balanced by the patience and sensitivity of this lovely horse.  But we learned to listen to each other, rely on each other, sometimes nark at each other, but that’s what friends are for. Another year and we’ve started exploring.  Show jumping, pleasure and endurance rides, lonesome hacks, anything that takes the fancy.  Alert and responsive, she turns an elegant hoof to every challenge.  No new command needs more than two prompts.  Every day, every time out, she is a pleasure to handle and ride.

 

Has she no faults, this paragon?  Well, the twice I tried tying her she broke free.  Just snapped the halter, flew back three feet and looked at me.  So I don’t tie her.  I don’t need to.  She’ll stand anywhere from a grass verge to a seething show ground.  And in those few seconds where the halter comes off and the bridle goes on I always marvel that she chooses to stay.  All that strength, beauty, fire and pride, mine through her trust.

 

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