Milton was the perfect showjumper in my opinion and another great grey horse. I could watch him jump over and over again, as he jumped in the most perfect shape and always appeared to be in balance.  He hardly ever refused or had a fence down. He looked like he was a power horse who wouldn’t be fast against the clock, but he could turn on a sixpence and keep his jumping shape even when galloped flat out into a fence. I could go on and on…..he was amazing.

He had a good pedigree as he was sired by another famous showjumper called Marius, a Dutch Warmblood, out of an Irish Draft Sports Horse showjumping mare. He was bought by Caroline Bradley, who was a successful showjumping rider, as a foal and trained until her death in 1983.  Mr & Mrs Bradley continued to own the horse and he was competed by John Whitaker with whom he achived great success between 1985 and 1994. He had many international wins and was the first horse to win 1 million pounds outside of the racing world.  He is buried on the Whitaker’s farm in Yorkshire.

As a child I was told that rising trot was better for a horse’s back than sitting trot. However some recent research in the Netherlands suggests this may not be the case.

Certainly my experience was that rising trot was easier for me, once I’d got used to rising out of the saddle, and therefore I think for the horse too. As I became a more experienced rider I could also do a reasonably good sitting trot, but I think it is generally more difficult and much easier on some horses than others, depending on their confirmation. I’m sure any out of balance movements by the rider affect a horse’s back to some degree.

One of the things I’ve always found difficult with rising trot is the correct diagonal, as I remembered when I rode at the weekend! Most horses have a preference for one and it will be much harder to keep on the correct one on one rein.