My time at Fox-Pitt Eventing

By Alex Munn

As soon as I finished my Bachelor of Science degree in Human Physiology, Psychology and Genetics at the University of Pretoria, I hopped on a plane and headed to the UK for as many Groom Apprenticeship interviews as I could fit into two weeks. I went all over the countryside to a number of big names and riders, including Izzy Taylor, Padraig McCarthy, Jodie Amos and Dassett Eventing. Despite each different role presenting exciting opportunities, I was completely obsessed with the team and setup of Fox-Pitt Eventing. Not only that, but I was completely starstruck by the legend himself. It took me a good five months to be able to have a normal conversation with William that didn’t follow my usual interview style of ridiculous rapid-fire questions.

As to why FPE actually decided to hire me is still a mystery to me today. I was incredibly slow on the yard and naive to the British eventing world. I had no idea how to operate a broom and was too weak to even carry a half-filled water bucket. They must have been truly desperate, or, as I like to think, it was my sparkling charm and determination that got me the job! William was very kind to introduce me gradually to the hardships of a groom’s life by assigning me as the second groom for Kazuma Tomoto (Team Japan, based at FPE). Kazu only had four horses which allowed me to learn the tricks of the trade and increase my work speed under the watchful eyes of Jackie Potts.

Kazu and Jackie were (and still are) the most wonderful and supportive people that I could’ve asked for to show me the ropes at the very top level of our beloved sport. Just the other day, they both stayed an extra half hour to watch me run around my first 4*-S cross-country track!

Jackie has been William’s head girl for 28 years, and there is no one in the industry with more experience! I found Jackie a tough cookie initially, as she was harsh but very fair in her lessons regarding time management, organisation and routines. I learnt so much about show preparation, turnout, international travel, horse nutrition and daily care from her that I have carried on to the care of my own event horses today.

Poor Kazu had the pleasure of dealing with my verbal diarrhoea on lengthy jollies (hacking along the verges of arable land), and I like to pride myself in thinking that I contributed to his improvement in understanding and speaking English. Kazu, who later was dubbed King Kazu, was a fantastic teacher and gave me so many wonderful opportunities to ride, school and even jump his 5* horses. Most grooms in the UK are not even trusted to ride the top-level horses; the lucky few are able to lunge and hack, so to be in a position where I was trusted to school 5* horses without constant supervision was the stuff of dreams.

Having said this,the first six months at FPE were really tough. It was the dead of winter, I was very homesick, and the horses were all fresh as dandelions. I was also the new girl who didn’t know anything, and I had to work very hard to earn small privileges and, understandably, the team’s trust that I wasn’t going to run back home with my tail between my legs.

Kazuma Tomoto

THE SEASON STARTS All the tiresome winter work was finally worth it once the season began, and I was taken to my first away event at Belton International Horse Trials. At this point, I had been without a horse of my own for five months and was not coping very well. Some online shopping and a very brief ride around the Belton warmup arenas found me the best horse I could ever have asked for! At the time, Basil had only run around a few BE100 events and was a spritely but very polite 6-year-old. I jumped three crosses and knew straight away that he was coming home with me! I had tried him in such a rush (over my lunch break) that I hadn’t even looked at his face, so I had no idea how handsome he was until he arrived. My only mistake was that I got him delivered to FPE two weeks before Badminton which was a rookie error on my part as he ran the risk of bringing viruses or Equine Flu onto the yard. After a brief scolding (for me), Basil was placed in quarantine at the bottom of the yard for two weeks.

I left for Ireland four days after he arrived. Luckily the team at home looked after him and got riding straight away for me while I had an epic Irish adventure at the most entertaining event of them all: Ballindenisk International Horse Trials! Not only did we have the best weather, food and company while we were there, but we were treated to the annual traditional and hysterical event of donkey racing! The sight of 5* event riders bailing off dinky donkeys going slower than a snail was epic. We worked very hard with 3am starts and midnight finishes, but all was rewarded when Kazu came home with first and second in the 4*-S. The ferry ride home was unreal as all the grooms and riders from their respective nations sat together in the canteen and had dinner. But still, the best part about going home was that I was about to start my partnership and international eventing career with Basil!

Basil is a “solid boy”, as William described him. He is reliable but sensitive and absolutely can’t handle the midges in summer. The first time Kazu sat on him, his first words were, “ooh, chunky”, which wasn’t the ideal response for my hopeful lean, mean eventing machine. Our first few events went relatively well; Basil was honest, bold and careful, resulting in us picking up a 4th in our first BE105 at Wellington International. ALEX VIDEO 1

The social endeavours of summer at FPE were sensational; we had multiple pub lunches, long lunch breaks, tanning in the sun, swimming in the river at Cutt Mill, beach trips, nights out, solstice parties, young farmer events and hunt balls. All of which gave me an insight into the way of British country living, and I couldn’t have been happier. I made some lifelong friends and invaluable connections. One of these unforgettable moments was Badminton 2019, in which William took us for an exclusive team XC course walk! Magical doesn’t even cover it! We planned to have the whole yard done by the time XC started, so we (the team at home) could watch everyone run on the TV from the office above the tack room. We were also guaranteed one of the Badminton days as a day off, so I doubled up with my Irish house buddy and met family for lunch by the lake on showjumping day. We shopped until we dropped and were very proud of William, who finished 9th and 13th on his fabulous nine-year-olds (at the time), Little Fire & Oratorio II.

Off to Ireland, we went for a second time, except this time we were off to the Nations Cup at Camphire International Horse Trials! This trip was fantastic because not only did Kazu win the 4*-L on my favourite of his horses, Vinci de la Vigne, but I was lucky enough to trot up both of Kazu’s horses for him on the final morning before showjumping. This was because Kazu was running cross country on another horse at the time of the trot up. Naturally, I had not prepared for such an honour and ended up doing so in ripped jeans! Jackie was instrumental in teaching me how to prepare and present tired and stiff horses on the final morning, and presenting him was an honour I will cherish forever. The trip home took what felt like days, and I couldn’t blame Jackie for having a sense of humour failure when she dropped her McDonald’s toffee latte at 2am. We then started to settle down for a long and disgustingly wet winter. I was now up to speed and feeling inspired to tackle another season higher up in the FPE team ranks.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of the job and the constant staff turnover, my year-long earned privileges were given to the new girls in an attempt to get them to stay, which was a bitter pill for me to swallow. However, Kazu was on the final stretch towards the Tokyo Olympics, and I was confident I’d still have a vital role to play in the team.

COVID-19 Disaster struck in March 2020 when the whole world shut down due to COVID-19. The whole eventing calendar was abandoned, the Olympics were postponed, and we weren’t allowed to leave the yard. Team FPE eventing did their utmost to keep us entertained and diffuse any tensions. We had weekly dinner parties at the FP’s house, where we teamed up and took part in a Come Dine With Me-style competition. My partner, Ollie Fox-Pitt, and I were victorious in our PJ party-themed night and even managed to get lipstick on William! We also had two dressage competitions where William judged us riding through our respective levels of FEI dressage tests. I was beaming when I received 70% for 2* test A. With nothing much else to do except get lost in your own thoughts, I then decided to move home to my parents in Hampshire and go back to University to gain a Masters in Psychology, as we simply didn’t know how long this was going to take and what the future looked like for competitive sport. It was a tough decision, but team FPE supported me and continues to support me in everything I do and has become an extended family for me. Jackie admitted to me once I had decided to leave that she was very impressed with my determination and resilience because she didn’t think I was going to make it at first; she was proud that I proved her wrong.

Note: We lived and worked together and regularly tested for COVID-19 over this period.

RESUMPTION OF COMPETITIONS Even once competitive life resumed, I freelanced and went with William to Burgham International Horse Trials in August 2020. I regularly bump into the team at events, and they have been so supportive of my progress. I know I always have a friendly face and someone to call if I need advice from the best of the best. Basil and I would not be where we are today without that kickstart in British Eventing, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to learn, grow and flourish as a result of the brilliant team and the Fox-Pitt way of eventing.

NEXT MONTH Next month I will dive deeper into the inner workings of the British Eventing system and explain just how different it is from the way we event back home in SA!