Dream Really do come true at Hickstead in Localrider September October 2018

Localrider Magazine

EVENTING • SHOWJUMPING • SHOWING • FUN RIDES www.localrider.co.uk

£3.00

Sept/Oct 2018

Jake Tarrant Event Rider & Entrepreneur

Hickstead Dreams Come True!

www.localrider.co.uk

Show Reports & Local News, including... ● SsangYong Eridge Horse Trials ● British Showjumping Championships ● Coakham Bloodhounds Beach Ride

09

September/October 2018 • VOLUME XVIII NUMBER 6

EFS Top Contender

...and lots more!

COVERING KENT, SUSSEX, SURREY, HAMPSHIRE, BERKSHIRE & THE ISLE of WIGHT

01-cover3_lrsept18.indd 1

23/8/18 15:59:19

FEATURE

“The best one they have ever bred”

Michael and EFS Top Contender’s clear round in the Nations Cup proved crucial to Ireland winning

Watching a horse you have bred and produced jump clear as part of the winning Nations Cup Team at Hickstead, then receiving a letter from Horse Sport Ireland telling you that your horse’s round was crucial in securing that win, really is a dream come true.

Dreams really do come true…

Michael Duffy celebrates!

S

eeing Ben Dalton with tears in his eyes as his horse, EFS Top Contender, jumped a spectacular clear in the driving rain at Hickstead during the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Great Britain, we knew we had to share this story. The raw emotion expressed on his face reflected years of hard work riding and producing horses for a moment like this.

Owned by Ben and his father, Graham, EFS Top Contender is just one of many, many horses bred by Graham over the last thirty years, but he is “the best one they have ever bred”, said Ben’s partner, Charlotte Packham.

By Lauriston he is out of mare that came Graham’s way via Carron Nicol. The mare known as Contour is by Continue who is

by Contender. She has a phenomenal jump but sadly couldn’t be ridden as she had a broken jaw, the result of a field injury.

Forest Gump The now 12-year-old EFS Top Contender didn’t always feel like the best to ride. Charlotte said: “Despite having an amazing jump, he just couldn’t run. He had these gangly legs and under saddle as a four-year-old they were all over the place, that is why we call him ‘Forest Gump’. Then one day, when he was nearly six, it was like a light switch and he just had this fantastic canter.”

Ben jumped Forest on the county circuit and at Hickstead producing him up to 1.50m level, but the family never had the finances to take him to the bigger shows. Frustrated that he wasn’t reaching his full potential Ben decided to seek advice from Duncan Inglis. Duncan thought he would suit his son-in-law, Irish rider Michael Duffy, as Michael had just lost the ride on his top horse.

Michael came and rode Forest at Ben’s yard in Horam, near Heathfield and was over the moon with him. Their first show together was at South of England in 2017. They jumped in the 14 Localrider SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

14-15-forest2-lrsept18.indd 1

23/8/18 09:32:28

Ben Dalton pictured moments after EFS Top Contender jumped his clear round

Graham and Ben Dalton, clearly delighted the horse they bred and produced jumped clear in the Nations Cup

Pic by Stefano Grasso

Michael Duffy and EFS Top Contender jumping at the Longines Global Champions Tour in Cascais Estoril

The winning Irish Team pictured with their Chef d’equipe, Rodrigo Pessoa Area Trial on the first day, but Forest slipped on a turn and had one down. Learning from their mistake they won the International Stairway on the second day.

Jet set horse Since then, Forest has lived the jet set life of an international showjumper, travelling to over 12 different countries. In March he travelled for the first time by plane to Mexico City for the Longines Global Champions Tour, where he and Michael were part of the ‘Miami Celtic’ team, winning the first leg of the Global Champions League.

Ben, Charlotte, their three children Jack, 8, Joey, 4, and Millie 16 months, Graham and Ben’s mother, Julie, have tried to support Michael and Forest wherever they are jumping and at the end of March flew out to Mexico City to watch them compete. Forest flew straight from Mexico City to Miami Beach for the next leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour, while the Daltons watched at home on the livestream.

Heart of gold Jack and Joey have grown up sitting and riding on Forest and even Millie has had the obligatory picture in the stable with him.

Listening to Charlotte talk about Forest it is clear how big a part of their family he is. She said: “He has no idea how special he is.

He came home in January for six weeks and spent them hacking around the roads with the children on their ponies. He was born with a heart of gold.”

Michael and Forest’s solid performances this spring saw them join the long list for the Irish team for the World Equestrian Games, which will be held in Tryon in North Carolina this September. For

Forest with Jack, Charlotte and Millie

Forest with Jack and Joey

Michael and Forest the games have probably come a year too early.

Ireland has a good squad of horses to choose from and Charlotte feels that they haven’t seen the best of Forest yet, next year and the ones after will be when he consolidates on the amazing achievements of the last 12 months.

Victory at Hickstead Talking of the pivotal part the combination played in Ireland’s Nations Cup victory at Hickstead on Sunday 29th July, Charlotte said: “To have Rodrigo Pessoa, the Irish Chef d’equipe, want our homebred horse on his team was a real honour. Watching him at Hickstead, at a show we love, was lovely. To win was beyond anything we could have thought of.”

Seven teams came forward to jump in the Nations Cup at Hickstead, each with four riders, with the top three scores from each of two rounds counting. Michael and Forest jumped Ireland’s only clear round in the second round, putting Ireland in a jumpoff position with Great Britain. Anthony Condon and SFS Aristio jumping for Ireland posted a slightly quicker time than Great Britain’s Holly Smith and Hearts Destiny in the jump-off, securing the Irish win.

Just days after the Nations Cup Julie and Graham received a parcel from Horse Sport Ireland with a small hand-crafted silver stirrup and a letter thanking the family for letting EFS Top Contender (Forest) jump on the Irish Nations Cup team, explaining that ‘his round was crucial in securing Ireland’s win’.

Looking to the future the family hope Michael and Forest will continue their international career, while back at home in Horam there are plenty of Forest’s off-spring for Ben and Charlotte to start producing. Fingers-crossed there might be another champion amongst them.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 Localrider 15

14-15-forest2-lrsept18.indd 2

23/8/18 18:44:21