Eventing Success Stories

Owner Hayley Austin couldn't be more thrilled with her ex-racehorse Twilight Blues:

“I went along to HEROS to find a horse who had potential to event,” said Hayley. “I have known Grace Muir many years as my last horse Proposing came from there who I had such fun with and learned a lot.

"Twilight Blues stood out a mile off, so I rode him and although he was extremely green, I knew he was special, and the very next day I picked him up. I soon introduced him to my trainer Owen Moore and asked him if he would help me retrain him.

"So a year on 'Twiglet' has successfully completed two BE events with Owen (third in his second BE90), and will be running at the special ex-racehorse BE90 (open) class at Ascott under Wychood Horse Trials in June. After that I will take over as rider, and if you asked me if I would ever do it again...yes a hundred times over.”

Trainer Owen Moore is also full of compliments:

“Twiglet has the look of a winner, not only in terms of his confirmation but also in his eye,” said Owen.

“Since being with Hayley he has filled out and muscled up into a ball of power and energy. He naturally has three good paces but all of them have developed especially his trot, which has become more and more extravagant with training and confidence. He has an outstanding natural ping over a fence, but his excitement can take over so trying to get him to take his time has been the biggest challenge!

"My only wish is that we could have got him sooner - although he wouldn’t have made so much money as an eventer - but the racing start in his life has definitely given him the edge.”

Twilight Blues also excelled on the racecourse on the Flat with trainer Jeremy Noseda, winning over £180,000 which included top class races such as the Duke of York Stakes (Gr.2) and the European Free Handicap (L).

(Hayley Austin, May 2010)

^ Back to top

Alligator Alley (Roger) was bought by Paul Webber as an unbroken four-year-old from Ireland in 2000. It took Trevor Heath, Paul's Head Lad and Matthew's father, about three months to break him in; he was very nervous and needed a lot of confidence boosting and time.

In 2002 Roger had his first run in a National Hunt Flat race at Chepstow where he was last. Two subsequent runs did not improve his form at all!

Roger's owners, Andy and Christine Jenkins did not want to send the horse to the sales so they offered him to Matthew to try to re-train as an eventer. This was early in 2003 and Matthew was working for Ann and Nigel Taylor at the time, who gave him advice with the re-training.

Roger ran in his first event, a pre-novice, in May 2004 finishing 9th. He was in the top ten in three out of his first four pre-novices and has been consistently placed at pre-novice, novice and intermediate. He was 14th in his first CCI* and 10th in his first CCI** at Blair. He and Matthew represented GB in the CCI** team in Sweden (finished 4th) in 2007 and are in the squad for the same team event to be held in Hungary in July 2009. He was third in the Open Intermediate at Isleham at the beginning of this season, and now has 95 points.

Whilst Roger's progression through the levels may not have been as rapid as some, his history shows what can be achieved with time and patience (lots!!) with horses which are anything but straightforward.

(Written by Suzanne Heath, March 2009)

^ Back to top

Here is a photograph of my much missed dear old ex-racehorse, Tumnus, in the Autumn of 2007 when he was 33!

He came out of training aged five and I bought him to go eventing from some nice friends who did a blitzkrieg re-schooling job beforehand.

He was good enough to take me round Windsor three-day event, and he was physically very tough and was never
once lame (apart from twice striking into himself across country).

I only stopped hacking him out when he was 26, and that was because I'd badly broken my ankle - he was still raring to go. It was his vital organs that gave out in the end, and sadly I had to have him put down.

Written by Pippa Cuckson (December 2008)

^ Back to top

Woodland Park (aka Woody) came to us almost two years ago having last raced just four weeks before.

To start with we turned him away to integrate with my other horses and to "chill out" a bit at grass. Then the work began in earnest - the plan is for him to event with my husband so first came the dressage. After few hiccups (lameness due to foot balance) he started his dressage career and is proving to be successful at it.

He is currently winning our local dressage league, and has now started affiliated and has qualified for the Pet Plan area festivals at Prelim. We are now trying to do the same at Novice. He has gained points at Novice and hopefully will continue to do well as we move up to the next level.

He is an honest responsive ride and is hacked out occasionally by a novice friend. Woody looks after him and changes pace on voice command from my husband riding alongside on my fiesty Welsh Sec. D. He has certainly changed my outlook on owning an ex-racehorse as he is a pleasure to own.

Written by Jenni Revilles (June 2008)

^ Back to top

Marcus William came to me in October 2006 after coming back from injury.  He had been in training with Brendon Powell, where he had eight starts over hurdles with a win and being placed twice. Marcus then tried his hand at Point-to-Pointing where he was placed fifth in his first run, but sadly never raced again after that due to recurrent tendon problems. After being turned out for a year and a half, with occasions of training it was decided that Marcus be retired from racing, and this is where I came in.

Marcus was offered to me as a lifelong loan which I was thrilled to accept. He came to me on a cold afternoon in October 2006 and we have never looked back. The first six weeks involved getting up at 5am every morning to walk him out, as it had been eight months since he had last been ridden and all of his tendons had gone "soft", further more due to the past problems with his legs it was important to take it slow at first, and this suited us fine as it gave us an opportunity to get to know each other.

Six weeks of gradually building up the time spent walking made me thoroughly bored, so I was very excited to begin to trot, which only involved a few steps at a time to build up the tendons strength and elasticity. All my hard work and early mornings were worth it as Marcus has not had any problems to this day, and it is now so rewarding being able to compete and have fun with him.

I have just finished my first season's hunting which included the wonderful meet at Tattersalls where we had the most amazing day. We have became a dab hand at it, even though Marcus still has moments when he thinks he is racing, which I am sure will phase out! We often compete at local cross country and show jumping events and have recently completed a few one-day events with the prospect to go affiliated.

My advice to anyone wanting to take on an ex-racehorse is to give the horse time to forget about racing and settle into their new surroundings. They are amazing creatures who are very clever and adaptable, and given time and experience will reward you with their efforts.

Georgina Pettit (April 2008)

^ Back to top

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. 

^ Back to top

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.

^ Back to top