Horse hero

The champion hack who makes his rider look like a supermodel

Champion hack Fleetwater Xecutive

“HORSE of a lifetime” is a term perhaps overused, but Jordan Cook has no hesitation in applying it to Fleetwater Xecutive, the horse that took him from the local circuit to the biggest shows in the country.

“I’m never going to get another one like him,” reflects Jordan. “When I look back now and think of all the things he’s won, he’s done really well, bless him.”

That is something of an understatement, as Darcy — as he’s known at home — has won practically every accolade as a hack, as well as every title available to an amateur rider, as Jordan was when he began his showing career.

“He’s a true showman,” says Jordan, who now produces show horses for a variety of owners from a yard in Swanwick, Derbyshire.

“Darcy loves the big arenas and he loves to perform. When you walk into the ring you can feel the power in him. He loves the atmosphere.”

It all began when Jordan and Darcy won the SEIB Insurance Brokers Search for a Star supreme at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS)

in 2007, heading their hack class and triumphing over eight other section winners.

“He’s qualified for the Royal International [RIHS] and HOYS every year since then,” says Jordan. “He’s easy to do, but he can be a bit sharp at times. He needs to know you — if he knows you, you’re fine. He’ll do anything for me and he’s never anything but professional in the ring, but if we’re out hacking and the wind blows a bush or something, he’ll jump into the air.

“But he’s absolutely bombproof in traffic. I could put anyone on him and send him down the main road; he’d take them to the end and back again and wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

“He doesn’t need schooling either; you only have to tell him or show him how to do something once and that’s it, he’s got it,” adds Jordan.

Darcy is a horse of a lifetime indeed.