We all remember our first ponies. From the angelic to the unruly, we revisit ponies that shaped some of our top riders and equestrian personalities. This month we hear from our regular contributors Roger Fitzhardinge and Kerry Mack, as well as young dressage star Simone Pearce and Olympic eventer Chris Burton.
“He was a great all-rounder and
I competed at gymkhanas with
him really successfully.”
ROGER FITZHARDINGE
Roger grew up in central Perth and spent all his spare time at the yacht club sailing and competing with his father and his uncle, who were instrumental in Royal Perth Yacht Club where the challenge for the America’s Cup was launched. Roger loved sailing, but also had a penchant for ponies.
“I was doing this equestrian venture with no one in the family or close friends that had horses, but all the same my father always encouraged me and supported my equestrian endeavours,” recalls Roger.
His first horse was 15.3 hand chestnut Anglo Arabian by the name of Misere. “Misere (Bundi) was named after the move in a card game (solo whist),” explains Roger. The player who bids ‘misere’ undertakes to win no tricks or as few as possible, usually at no trump, in the round to be played. “My father and I thought of the name. I bought him from a friend, Gail Strain, and he was a great all-rounder and I competed at gymkhanas with him really successfully.” Misere was also selected to represent Western Australia at the National Dressage Championships.
Roger had another important horse in the early days by the name of Royal Envoy (Claude). “He was a liver chestnut thoroughbred that was purchased by Vernon Brockman at a Victorian sale of horses owned by the Santos family. Claude came to WA as a stallion and was gelded and prepped to race. He was hopeless as a racehorse at that time,” recalls Roger.
“I was working for the Brockmans and I loved the big, quite raw-boned gelding and paid a few hundred dollars for him. I trained him and jumped him and showed him a little, but he was never a well horse. I did finally find out what was wrong, and with that fixed he literally blossomed. So much so that I started training him as a racehorse, as that’s what I was doing at the time for the Brockmans.”
Amazingly, Royal Envoy was trialled and won! Roger explains that Laurie Connell, who was a friend and client of the Brockmans, offered to buy him for $500 and also offered an additional $150 from his first win and a further $200 for a city win.
“Royal Envoy actually won 11 races in a row and I got my $150, but Laurie never got around to paying me for the first city win! This was his first racehorse to win for him.” Royal Envoy unfortunately sustained a tendon injury, and after his rehabilitation Laurie trained him as a showjumper and he went on compete at A Grade level before he was retired.
Roger’s third horse was an eventer by the name of Bromont, with whom he was short-listed on for the 1980 Moscow Olympics! “Bromont also was injured and on his recovery was not ever going to make a four-star eventer again. I sold him to Noelene Cook to show jump, as I was then showing horses, as I could no longer jump due to a back injury. Bromont was also jumped by Laurie Connell to A Grade and was very successful.”
As luck would have it, both Bromont and Royal Envoy ended up retired together at Laurie’s farm. “They both lived out their lives together in luxury and so well deserved.”
“I remember demonstrating
how to feed a horse an apple…
and how not to!”
KERRY MACK
An accomplished showjumper and Grand Prix dressage rider and coach, Kerry Mack grew up in South Australia and names the Gawler sale ring as the source of most of her childhood ponies. She received her first pony at about age two, an eight-hand Shetland named Midge.
“We bought him out of the sale ring at Gawler, which was the Echuca equivalent in South Australia at that time. I don’t remember what Mum paid for him, but it would have been back in the days when it was pounds and shillings. He was two or three, and absolutely wild; you couldn’t get near him. I remember when we brought him home, he was on a calf chain and he was so frightened of people that if you went anywhere near him he would run to the end of the chain and flip himself upside down because he was trying to get away from you so much. He was a big rehabilitation job,” recalls Kerry.
“Dad did a TV series on horse riding for the ABC that played after Play School, and I remember demonstrating how to feed a horse an apple… and how not to! The ‘how not to’ was the first time I got too close to Midge and he pushed the apple against my hand and tried to break it and smacked me in the head. I remember crying and being picked up off the ground, and that being on the television, and then me doing it properly. Which was quite hilarious!”
One of Kerry’s earliest memories of Midge was riding him around the front lawn of their home with her mother. “She was riding him and holding onto me, and we had a fire grate and I remember jumping over the fire grate double-dinking. And then I remember a bit later when I was big enough and old enough and brave enough, I could jump over this fire grate riding him all by myself. So that was the beginning of my showjumping career,” laughs Kerry.
Kerry took Midge to Pony Club, and also to her first show — although that didn’t happen as quickly as she would have liked. “I wasn’t allowed to go to a show until I was five, which I thought was very unreasonable at the time. I took him to Uraidla Show, so it would have been the first Saturday in February 1966. I had no idea what I was doing, of course; I remember I had bottle green corduroy baggy jodhpurs with matching braces and a white shirt. I was so proud of my green jodhpurs.”
Kerry explains that her first class didn’t quite go according to plan. “The judge said ‘go canter’ and Midge bucked me off. I remember sitting in the middle of the Uraidla Show crying my eyes out.” Of course, Kerry got back on and had a go at the next class. “They called me in but Mum hadn’t expected I’d get called in, so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I thought that I was in trouble; it was very funny. So that was my debut competition.”
Kerry says that it was always a bit disappointing that she never got to take Midge to a Royal Show. “We never had that kind of money, but we sold him on to a family that did and he was a very successful show pony into his 20s. We used to visit him at every Adelaide Show and feed him carrots, and I’d be jealous as hell with all the little kids that were allowed to ride him in the Royal Show that I was never allowed to do! He was a very good pony and his conformation was very good, so that’s why he was so successful later on.”
Kerry’s fondest memories of Midge are not about the competitions or even the riding. “My fondest memory was just being with him, just smelling his fur. I still remember the thick fur a Shetland pony has in winter and the smell of that — wet Shetland pony. And just hanging out with him, lying over his back and just telling him my secrets.”
Kerry also has fond memories of the Percherons her dad bought in the early 60s for working the land. “The property was steep and he nearly tipped the tractor over, so he sold it and we had Captain and Gus. I remember riding on the hay rake they used to pull.
“When we moved house in 1973, Captain would not go on the float. We rode him (two days) to the new farm. He refused to go through the front gate of our old property and had to be really convinced (Mum was a very capable horsewoman and very good with the stock whip). Once he went through the gate he was fine and he ended up settling in well at the new farm.”
“I got him when I was
two years old and he was
the best pony in the
entire world!”
SIMONE PEARCE
Australian dressage rider Simone Pearce, who is based at Gestüt Sprehe in Germany, is our current record holder in the CDI Grand Prix and Special with the talented black stallion Destano. Growing up in Australia, she had a special white gelding by the name of Pegasus.
“My first pony was a white 14hh gelding named Pegasus. I got him when I was two years old and he was the best pony in the entire world! At the age of two I could already canter him around the arena without a lunge, side reins or anything to help — he really was an angel and looked after me from day one. I took him to Pony Club and showing events… we did it all! He’s a long way from the black stallions of today,” laughs Simone. Different, but just as special!
“She was incredibly
tolerant; we could crawl
all over her.”
CHRIS BURTON
UK-based Australian eventer Chris Burton has represented Australia at three World Equestrian Games, two Olympic Games (including a team bronze medal at Rio) and has won the CCI5* at both Adelaide and Burghley — alongside many other prestigious events such as Aachen, Saumur and the Event Rider Masters series.
Over the years, he’s had many horses that have been very successful at the top level, however one of the most influential was his pony, Spice. Growing up on a Darling Downs grain farm, north west of Toowoomba in Queensland, Chris began his riding career at age three on a pony named Clancy — who had a tendency to be a bit naughty. However, his next pony, an 18-year-old 14.2 hand Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred named Spice, was the one that kick-started his eventing career.
“Like most good ponies, she came from a friend of the family,” says Chris. Chris spent his early days with Spice riding around the farm chasing cows and jumping home made cross country fences with his brother (who has since gone on to become a professional campdrafting and cutting rider).
“We did all the normal pony club activities too. She was incredibly tolerant; we could crawl all over her, and do what ever we wanted. If we fell off, she wouldn’t go too far away. The better we rode her, the better she went!”
One of Chris’ fondest memories of Spice was when he was quite young. “I remember we were so little we couldn’t saddle her up and if we fell off, we would keep hold of the reins and try to find some food to get her to lower her head so we could climb onto her neck and hold onto her ears and she would lift her head up and we would scramble on and ride home.” EQ
