NORTH-WEST
‘Stealing’ her mother’s horse paid off with two elementary wins at Beaver Hall for Natalie Chapman and Boysie.
The horse was originally Natalie and her sister Kelly’s, but their mother Karen has been riding him. Now 16 years old, Boysie was bought as a four-year-old from a dealer after Natalie and Kelly went looking for their first proper horse.
“When we got there, the one we went to look at originally had already been sold, so the lady suggested we looked at Boysie as she thought he’d suit us better, and he’s been brilliant,” said Natalie. Lack of transport has been an issue in the past so the majority of Boysie’s earlier competition outings had to be within hackable distance.
“I’ve always wanted to get out and compete to show what he can do and I thought, ‘If not now, when?’” added Natalie. “I’ll aim for the Area Festivals, although he’s really Mum’s now, so I can’t steal him off her completely!”
Sue Cottrell’s second generation home-bred Chacot Showman led the way in the novice 27 at Foxes Farm. The Showmaker gelding is the last of Sue’s home-breds and this was only his second outing.
“I’ve taken my time with him as he’s such a big-moving horse,” said Sue. “I’ve always bred for trainability and I chose Showmaker because of his temperament. ‘Jack’ has taken after him. He’s absolutely gorgeous —you could sit him on the sofa with you!”
It was a good day for Sue who was on hand to see two of her pupils, Candy Hughes-Jones and Sally Leadbetter, win their respective prelim sections.