Simon Charlesworth
‘I wanted to wear a top hat and tails like Simon, and ride with one hand
on my leg’
IN 2006, I happened to be standing at the side of the ring during the evening performance at Ponies (UK) Summer Championships at Newark and Notts Showground. I was working as a groom on a showjumping and dealing yard and I didn’t know anything about showing, but I went to Ponies (UK) because my boss’ daughter was riding there.
I watched Simon Charlesworth on one of Sarah Carey’s horses, I think, during the Horse of the Year Show hack championship. They were both so elegant, and Simon is such a wonderful rider to watch — he rode one-handed and was in complete harmony with his horse.
That’s when I knew it was what I wanted to do — I wanted to wear a top hat and tails like Simon, and ride with one hand on my leg. My mates and I had just bought a drink and were standing at the ring to watch and I said: “That’s what I’m going to do with Darcy [Fleetwater Xecutive, Horse
Hero, 7 September].”
I’d got him the Christmas of 2005 and we’d done a bit of this and that, working hunters, cross-country, showjumping, all at local level. It might have been the drink talking but watching Simon that day inspired me to try showing. And I never, ever dreamed I’d get as far as I have done.