FORMER RIDER KITTY KING

“I BOUGHT Persimmon as a rising six-yearold from Tim Warren, who sells a few horses locally and had brought him over from the Netherlands having done a bit of amateur jumping. He was a very good mover and jumper and wasn’t crazy money, so he was one to get the owners involved in the sport. I thought that he could certainly go out and win a few nice classes, but wasn’t necessarily expecting him to go on to the European Championships!

“But he stepped up at every level and found it all very easy – he was very bold cross-country and enjoyed his jumping. He was tough mentally and physically and although dressage wasn’t his favourite phase, you could work with him and produce the test you needed on the day.

“My proudest moment was finishing fourth at the Europeans at Blair. He was pathfinder so I was asked to go a long route and that probably cost us individual bronze, but I was delighted. He’s an amazing little horse who’s done a great job.”