From Bertie Hill to Mary King
BACK in the day, I did three-day eventing and I represented Great Britain, back when roads and tracks and steeplechase where still part of the format.
When I was 14, I showed ponies for the late great producer Douglas Kellow. After school I would ride the ponies for him, when he told you what he thought – good and bad.
The ponies didn’t have make-up on for the show ring nor did they have all the bling, just the pony as it is including a good natural shine from within, plaited mane and pulled tail.
At 17, I worked for the legendary Bertie
Hill, where everything from Olympic horses, Badminton winners and the breakers were ridden in just an egg butt snaffle. No noseband, no gadgets.
If we couldn’t use our riding ability to work the horses properly we, the riders, were the ones who got shouted at. Today, people quickly reach for the easy way out, using things like draw-reins and so on.
Bertie made us work the horses properly and hard; they had a lot of galloping to do at events, so the horses had to be fit or they would struggle to complete.
I was at Bertie’s the same time Mark Phillips kept his horses there and because I rode his horses while he was away, I got to groom for Mark at a couple of big events, like when he won at Burghley on Maid Marion in 1973.
A big difference at shows now is the horseboxes. We didn’t have any living; a foam mattress was put on the floor in the horse area. It never mattered what the lorry looked like, it was what came out of the lorry that counted!
When I left Bertie’s yard and set up on my own I took a lot of what I learnt into it, like not having any gadgets on the horses and keeping things very simple.
I also did dressage judging and I can remember judging a 16-year-old Mary King (née Thomson) at Molland Horse Trials – it wasn’t surprising she went on to be a top rider. I was very impressed with the partnership she had with her horse and the test she did was impressive.
This picture is of Jäger-tee, one of my shortlisted horses for the Olympics.