Merrion, the “amazing, if eccentric” master’s horse

The “amazing, if eccentric” master’s horse who frequently upstaged his rider with the Percy

WORD to the wise, listen to your mother. “I first saw Merrion in Peter Dodds’s Northumberland yard in

1998,” remembers Michael Hutchinson, joint-master of the Percy. “He was a very green four-year-old, but my mother, Pat, who had had a lifetime of judging show hunters, saw something special in him and insisted on buying him.”

A three-quarter-bred born in Kilkenny in 1994, Merrion’s paternal grandsire was the legendary Irish Draught stallion King Of Diamonds, “from whom he undoubtedly inherited his astonishing jumping ability”. That ability soon showed itself, together with his “amazing, if eccentric character”.

Michael explains: “He was brave as a lion, and so full of joie de vivre that he would frequently do huge cat jumps and finish up several feet from where he started.”

That trick gave rise to his nickname among his many

Percy fans: “Boing, because he boings! Very soon, I realised I was going to be constantly upstaged by my horse and had better get used to it.”

Indeed, Michael reflects that “the Emperor Caligula was perhaps not quite so mad when he made his horse a consul.”

In the hunting field, Boing had a cat-like athleticism, being able to pop a five-bar gate or stop on a sixpence.

“He knew instinctively where to be and what should happen next. All I had to do was whisper to him or flex my fingers.”

There were many memorable moments.

“Ooh, Michael, that was a stiff one!” Michael remembers his joint-master Lady Victoria Percy saying after a severe set of rails. This remark was “followed by a girlish giggle”.

One day when the Piccadilly Hunt Club visited, hounds were running hard through some of the Percy’s best country.

“As Boing led the field, skipping over a succession of hunt jumps, I could hear utter mayhem and carnage behind – breaking timber, loose horses, cries of horror – shades of the Charge of the Light Brigade. One of our visitors then had the cheek to offer to buy my horse. Not likely!” says Michael.

Before Christmas 2016, a crisis occurred when Boing came down with severe colic. His “favourite vet”, Tim Davies, was on call and said: “It’s either euthanasia or Edinburgh.”

Two hours later, Michael and Boing arrived at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.

“There were 11 people waiting to receive us, including five final-year students aged 22, the same age as Boing. He was found to have a pedunculated lipoma and a compromised length of gut, but the skill of the surgeon and good nursing saved his life.”

Recently, the old horse’s favourite vet has been kind enough to describe Boing’s long retirement as a “glorious Indian summer”. He deserves nothing less.

“He knew instinctively where to be”