Interview
Young showjumper and role model for ethnic minorities Myrtle Hallion
COULD BRITISH SHOWJUMPING be about to undergo a cultural makeover? If it is, mixed race Myrtle Hallion may well be the youthful human dynamo who will lead the way. In this era of Black Lives Matter, the 11-year-old’s doting stepfather Mark Hallion, himself a ‘name’ in the upper echelons of this white- (and often male-) dominated sport with eight showjumpers to compete, and her loving mother, Claire, are pushing the message via their daughter that talent, determination and hard work, rather than skin hue, are the characteristics that should bring success in the saddle.
Before she became Mrs Hallion a year ago, Claire Steel John, who fell in love with Mark in his sand school — he was the trainer, she the pupil — had been on the receiving end of sideways glances and blatant whispers. While still a single parent, she would trawl the grassroots circuit supporting Myrtle, whose trademark black bouffant hair could be spotted fanning out from beneath her riding helmet.
“I found the local shows judgemental, and comments would be passed through the parents rather than the children. When Mark and I married and Myrtle became a Hallion it had a huge impact. It was like she was accepted and those comments didn’t happen any more. Further up the jumping scale you don’t get that kind of thing,” says Claire. “I don’t think there is direct racism in showjumping in the UK, but the sport isn’t as diverse as it is abroad. We’re surrounded by different nationalities when Mark and I travel to other countries to jump.”
Claire blames the inaccessibility of horse sports for this impasse for ordinary children, city children, town children, children from low-income families. Where can they ride? How can they afford to ride? Do they even see riding as a possibility or as an elite activity that is so out of their reach it isn’t even on their radar?
“It would be great to see the government help local riding establishments become more involved with schools in the
UK,” Claire adds. “In Europe, there is a huge amount of funding for these places and they are far more accessible.
Some of the children in this country that fall within this ethnic group are fantastic sportspeople, but they just don’t have any opportunity to ride.”
Myrtle not only gained kudos when Claire and Mark became an item, but she suddenly had a ‘step’ version of a father who was always there for her, whether that be in the
“I don’t think there is direct racism in showjumping in the UK, but the sport isn’t as diverse as
it is abroad”
Claire Hallion
school training her, or in the banter-filled family home.
“Myrtle and I tease each other and love to joke,” says Mark. “When Claire and I got together I didn’t imagine how close Myrtle and I would become. It’s so nice when she says to people, ‘that’s my dad’. We have such a bond and that is a huge privilege for me. I feel incredibly lucky.”
They may enjoy making light of many topics, but diversity is a subject that Claire and Mark take extremely seriously. They would love to see jumping — and indeed all horse sports — in Britain become more inclusive.
“If Myrtle can change one or two people’s lives she will have done a good job,” says Claire.
“I was at a show a while ago queuing up for food and someone in front of me was talking about Myrtle,” Mark adds. “The lady called her ‘the girl in the blue Animo jacket’. There was no mention of the colour of her skin.”
It was a small victory. Despite this, however, showjumping still has giant leaps to make. No non-white rider competing with the Union Flag on their saddlecloth has ever helped to make up a British championship team or lifted a blue riband trophy. Google ‘black showjumper’ and up pops Oliver Skeete, the Rastafarian who became famous less for his jumping skills (or some might say lack of them), but more for uniquely gracing the circuit with dreadlocks, and later appearing (briefly, delivering a key to Pierce Brosnan) in the James Bond film Die Another Day.
When Claire bought a diminutive Shetland called Cookie for a three-year-old Myrtle, so began a pony-filled early childhood. At six, Myrtle, whose birth father hails from
Nigeria, made her competitive jumping debut aboard Bubbles, a lively Connemara x Shetland.
But it was with the bay New
Forest, Big Wig Billy Boy (“Sox”), who came to the Hallions’
Blackwater Equestrian base to be sold on, that Myrtle began to amass a bumper collection of rosettes, culminating in ribbons for a sixth spot in the Mini Major
Fancy Pairs at last year’s
Theraplate UK Liverpool
International Horse Show. In front of 11,000 people jammed into the stands they jumped a speedy clear, as did their partners,
Chloe Aston and Amigo T.
“It was very easy. I wasn’t nervous when we were travelling to Liverpool, but as the day went on I was a bit. But when you ride into the arena you don’t notice all those people,” says Myrtle via Zoom as she sits next to her ‘Nanny Catherine’ in the living room of the Hallions’ Hampshire home. Wrapped in a lilac blanket, the blue uniform she still sports shows that today was spent in the classroom at The Mountbatten School in Romsey.
Myrtle and her ponies are based at Blackwater Equestrian, the business run jointly by Mark and Claire. They take in horses for backing and jumping, offer rider training, in house clinics and a variety of livery packages. The stunning yard boasts 26 stables, two solariums, a cross-country course and three arenas (including one indoor). It is, says Claire, “built on a dream of becoming one of the best equestrian facilities on the south coast” and it lies adjacent to the River Blackwater, just a short hop from the New Forest.
Due to Myrtle’s legs growing longer (she’s currently 5ft 6in and is still growing), her ponies have become taller. She has now outgrown the 13.2hh Sox and today competes two 14.2hhs — the “cheeky” Dutch-bred chestnut Ramon, and the grey “pocket rocket” Quantico (“Sam”) — as well as the 15.2hh RSH Forever, who will be aimed at Future Children on Horses classes next year.
“I get up before school in the summer to exercise them, but in the winter it’s a lot harder,” says Myrtle, who nevertheless checks and grooms her charges every day and rides them on alternate days after school. “I’m very lucky to have Mark and the grooms at the yard who help. I juggle training with school and my nanny picks me up from school if mum’s away,” she adds, turning to look at Nanny Catherine.
Athletics and netball are favourites at school, but dance is in a different league.
“Myrtle loves making dance videos in the hip hop style of Charli D’amelio on Tictok,” says Claire.
With the positivity of youth, Myrtle announces: “I’d like to be a professional dancer and a showjumper.”
Of course she would like to dance. It is, after all, in this family’s soul. Although admittedly Claire hasn’t performed arabesques or pirouettes in public, her grandmother, Adrianne Bath, has and was a dancer with the English National Ballet. Catherine was a member of the internationally renowned Royal Ballet.
“Then I met my husband on stage and that was the end of my ballet dancing,”
Catherine explains, adding that she would prefer it if her granddaughter did “nothing dangerous [ie horses], but I wouldn’t recommend ballet either because I’ve needed three new knees in two years”.
Myrtle’s striking looks have earned her attention way beyond Blackwater Equestrian and the jumping classes she contests. Animo founder Alberto Vriz spotted her and turned her into the face of his prestige clothing brand. Images of Myrtle can be spotted from Barcelona to Bogata, the result of two photoshoots: one on Miami Beach, the other in Barcelona.
“It can be stressful. I once had a wolf licking my face,” smiles Myrtle. “I’ve been in the bush and to a lot of places. It’s definitely a good experience.”
“I drove to Barcelona to meet Myrtle for one shoot,” adds Claire. “I told my mum it would be very glamorous, but we ended up in a ski resort on a mountain. It was freezing and we couldn’t find the loos!”
As far as Claire knows, Myrtle is the first mixed race child to model equestrian clothing. “Alberto has been responsible for pushing her in front of everyone. She’s gone from just being a child riding to people saying, ‘look at her’.”
Soon Myrtle may find herself in front of an altogether larger camera as she is set to be featured in a Channel 5 documentary that demonstrates diversity across all sports. Another in the pipeline will profile the children of professional jumpers.
“I hope that when they see Myrtle, the sport will seem more accessible to other young mixed race riders,” says Claire.
As Imran Atcha, who runs Gloucester’s St James City Farm Riding School, told Horse & Hound earlier this year: “We need role models. We need someone who people in the area can relate to. If they see someone from the same background, they can relate to that person, but if everyone appears to be the same type, and wealthy, there’s a feeling riding is only for wealthy people — and for the ethnic minority community, it’s multiplied.”
Perhaps showjumping’s ethnic minority role model will be Myrtle Hallion. After all, role models really do make a difference.
“I was at a show queuing for food and someone in front of me was talking about Myrtle. There was no mention of
the colour of her skin”
Mark Hallion