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.

Another great, if not the best, Irish Sports horse in showjumping was Boomerang in the late 70s. I remember him being competed in a hackamore and his four consecutive wins in the Hickstead Derby.

He was competed by some of the best showjumping riders of the time - Liz Edgar, Paul Schockemohle and Eddie Macken. His biggest wins were with Eddie Macken, who had ridden him as a youngster in Ireland and was then reunited with him in 1975 at the  Schockemohle yard after Macken’s best horse was injured.

Their record of 32 first or seconds in major Grand Prix events between 1975 and 1979 is amazing and put Eddie Macken to the top of the World Rankings. Boomerang was an excellent showjumper as he was both careful and fast, and he was unlucky not to win a major championship such as the World, European Championships or Olympics.

Boomerang retired in 1980 after a broken pedal bone and was put to sleeep aged 17 in 1983. HIs grave is marked with four evergreen trees and says in Irish ‘you won’t see the likes of me again’.

Stroller was a famous pony who successfully competed in showjumping events in the UK and Europe at major international level in the late 60s. I decided to look up his history after a pony Theodore O’Connor recently won awards for 2007 after several international eventing successes.

Stroller was a pretty bay pony with a white star. His breeding was a mix of Irish Sport Horse (Thoroughbred crossed with an Irish Draft) and a Connemara. He was ridden and owned by Marion Mould. I’m unsure of his early history but his major successes were in his late teens.

They won the Individual Silver Medal at the 1968 Olympics and they produced one of only two clear rounds in the Individual Championship. He is the only pony to have ever competed at the Olympic Showjumping events. They won the 1967 Hickstead Derby and is the only pony to have ever won this event. He won the 1970 Hamburg Derby at the age of 20. They won 61 international competitions across Europe and is the only pony to have consistently been successful at such a level. He died aged 36 after 15 years of retirement.

Sorry I haven’t written anything for some time but my horse had to be put down in late February after developing pneumonia and not responding to treatment. This was very sudden and a sad day for our family and friends who have enjoyed looking after him for many years. I bought him as a foal and he would have been 22 in a few weeks time. He was the kindest and sweetest horse that I have ever looked after. Even now, it is very difficult for me to write about this and I have not felt like reading about horses or writing for the website in recent weeks. I will be trying to get back to normal with the website postings soon but expect it may take a while.

I saw an article recently on Barbaro’s full brother. He is 14 months old and called Nicanor. He is a bay but with head markings of a star and a strip. Another full brother to Barbaro and Nicanor was born this summer, who apparently looks more like his famous full-brother. Time will tell if they have similar abilities to Barbaro.