Why the long face? I’m only nipping to the bank
ASOUTHPORT man took an alternative route to the bank on Monday - and his horse, the preferred mode of transport, brought a Devon town to a standstill.
Jonathan Marshall, 50, was born in Southport, went to Meols Cop High School, and puts his love of horses down to seeing Red Rum paraded down Lord Street as a child, and has been responsible for some famous horses himself.
Jonathan said: “I was born in Southport, in the infirmary on Scarisbrick New Road, and I was brought up in Lethbridge Road.
“I moved out to Scarisbrick when I was a teenager, but I’ve always had horses, always been a horse person.
“Some of my loveliest memories are when Red Rum was popular in ‘70s.
“Every time Red Rum won the Grand National he was paraded down Lord Street and I was a seven-year-old kid watching this horse being paraded along like it was a national hero.
“To me it was like seeing a superstar, I’ll never forget it.
“My mum was very close friends with Ginger McCain’s family, we kind of knew them anyway through the horses, and now I do all sorts of films and TV work, using horses for shows and all that sort of stuff.
“We’ve done Game Of Thrones, Poldark, stuff like that.”
He was on his way to a show in Saunton, Devon, when he decided to take a detour to the bank in Barnstaple.
Shoppers in the town stopped and stared when Amadeus, Jonathan’s black horse appeared outside the town centre branch of Lloyds – ironically matching the famous black horse logo.
Jonathan said he was keen to beat the traffic ahead of his show.
“It really caused quite a stir,” he said.
“There are a lot of black horses in the world but I guess he does have a likeness to the one in the Lloyds logo.
“I just went into town to use the bank and was keen to beat the rush hour traffic.
“He’s a lovely horse and I’m glad that people take such an interest in him.”
Jonathan rescued Amadeus when his previous owner was killed in an accident.
“I take in horses from difficult backgrounds,” he said.
“He was a 10-year-old stallion that everyone seemed to be a bit scared of.
“When he came to me he was suffering from a serious disease and couldn’t do a lot.
“I was shocked because he used to be a breeding stallion.”
It was in dealing with the illness that Jonathan was able to channel his inner Ginger McCain.
“He was in really poor condition, he’d not been looked at in 10 years, he was untrained, he had no manners.
“He was just like a teenage boy really, who nobody had ever said no to.
“I started training him and I realised his feet were in such poor condition, he has CPL (Chronic Progressive Lymphedema) and there’s no cure for it.
“I went to vets all around the world and they said there’s nothing I could do.
“But I remembered the story of Red Rum from when I was a kid, that they used to train him on the beach and the salt water did wonders for his feet.
“I live in Cornwall now, right near the beach, so I took him to the beach every single day and walked him through the salt water, and that’s where I did all my training with him.
“It had a miraculous effect, his feet have pretty much healed up now and he’s become a major part of my show.
“In fact, next year the show is going to be called ‘Return Of The Black Stallion’, and he’s the star of it.”
After delighting shoppers in Barnstaple, Amadeus performed in Saunton with England cricket legend Alastair Cook among those in the audience.
Two years ago Jonathan brought his horse and falcon show to the Southport Flower Show.
He said: “It was very emotional actually, people from when I lived there when I was a kid, 30-odd years since I left, seeing people who remembered me from when I was a little scrawny kid with a kestral on my arm.
“In fact I brought my kestral into Meols Cop when I was a kid and did a talk on it.
“Next year we’re doing the Lancashire Game And Country Fair, I have to say that years ago they used to do the Meols Hall Game Fair and I’m not sure if they still do it but I’d love to play there, because that’s where I got started really.”