OWNER AND RIDER KATE WALLS

“I WAS in business with Piggy March when we bought ‘Cyril’ – or ‘Squirrel’, as we sometimes call him – from Richard Sheane at Cooley Farm, but Piggy didn’t have room for him when he first came over, so he came to me. I’m very much an amateur but I like having some nice horses around and he ended up staying.

“We did young horse classes and were third in the CCI* [now CCI2*-L] at Weston. I’m not a quick cross-country rider so I went to Chris Burton for some training.

“When Cyril was seven, I thought it’d be nice for him to go to Le Lion, so I asked Chris to ride him. He was fourth at Lion, losing the win only with a rail down, and well placed in both his qualification events. In the following years he won the eight- and nine-year-olds at Blenheim and went to the World Equestrian Games [WEG] in Tryon with Chris, but he lived with me and I competed him, too.

“In the spring of 2019 I did Lincolnshire open intermediate and then, as I’d never had a horse who could be competitive at Badminton, I asked if Chris would like to take him. He said, ‘I’d love to – but he needs to be with me now,’ so I dropped him off. My dream was for him to complete but to be third was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“You could hack Cyril after six months off and the worst he’d do is spook at a leaf, but he’s different coming out of the start box. I ride him in a pelham and find him incredibly strong.

“He’s back with me now as my schoolmaster. I loved watching him with Chris, who is such a talented rider, but the horse is my pet and I love looking after him. He lives in a herd and has a miniature Shetland. I have his three-year-old full brother too now.”