The early sixties and nearly the end of my riding career.

During 1962, I had entered National Anthem in a few small shows, and although he seemed to enjoy his jumping, he really did not show very much potential! Nevertheless, he won a few showing classes, but as my interest was mainly in show jumping, I am afraid I did not have the patience or the time to spend hours schooling him at dressage and showing in general.   I did enjoy riding him though and Dad kept him fit and in basic training for me with the string of race horses he was training each day. 

National Anthem above and below.

In April 1963, my riding career almost came to an end; when riding a horse called Performance, trained by Jack Perry, in the Rhodesian Grand National, we hit the ground harder than planned at the very first fence! On the approach, we had a horse on either side of us; both of these horses jumped at an angle towards us, squeezing us out, right in front of the fence. We fell heavily and Performance sadly broke his back and was put out of his misery there and then on the race course. I was a little luckier, also with a broken back, but I woke up several days later in hospital in Salisbury. The break was high between the shoulder blades, and finally after a period I was back on my feet again, but with strict instructions that I was not to consider getting on a horse again for at least six months, and it would probably be closer to twelve months. Only after the six month check-up would I know if I could ride again!

To tell me that I cannot do something is like waving a red rag to a bull, and although I have to admit to some pain early on, I was back at work and riding within three months. At my six month check-up, the surgeon said he was pleasantly surprised at how well my back was doing and that the muscles were well built up and giving lots of support. If I liked, I could go out for the occasional quiet hack once more!! I never did admit to him that I had been riding for the past three months and not just hacking, but riding work and show jumping as well! I shudder now at the thought of what I did; if I had taken another tumble during the healing process I could well have spent the remainder of my days in a wheelchair.

Back at work; my boss Jack Perry, with All's Fair, a filly imported from the U.K. 

It was decided during 1963 that Jewel’s Reward would be better schooled and trained to see if he was any good for show jumping. The saying is ‘horses for courses’ and that was exactly what the story was so far as Jewel’s Reward was concerned. At Marandellas, he was a flying machine (see previous post), but at Borrowdale, Salisbury's main race course, he showed little interest at all. So far as I remember, he ran one second place at Borrowdale, in a  field of useless horses! He seemed to enjoy schooling, and I have to admit that I probably enjoyed working with him so far as dressage was concerned, more than any horse I had owned to that date. He was intelligent and although not very big, being about the same height as Hy-Li-Li, he was well muscled and showed great promise. In July 1963, he won Champion Hack, a local horse show event where quality and good manners of the horse are particularly important. He behaved like a perfect gentleman in the ring. Soon after, he  won his first show jumping event, which was a speed event that he flew around, being seconds faster than any other horse in his class! I knew that he was never going to be an outstanding show jumper, his small size being against him, but I could see lots of fun in the future especially where speed events were concerned!

Jewel's Reward with me in training,

During 1963, another horse took my eye, one which had been brought up from Johannesburg by one of the other trainers. His name was Kubla Khan, and he looked to me as if he would make the perfect show jumper, if he had the right temperament! He was beautifully bred, being by Abadan II out of Neural, which made him a half-brother to Migraine, the filly that won the famous Durban July race in the 1950's. I spoke to the trainer and owner, and they promised me if, and when, he came up for sale, I would get first option to buy him! This in fact happened the same year, as he was not showing any promise on the track. So Kubla Khan joined my string of horses right in the middle of the show jumping season! 

Kubla Khan.

It was decided that as he was racing fit and I had little time to school him, Dad would keep him in training temporarily, and if there were any races for which he looked suitable, Dad would give him a run. I think this was an unpopular decision with the previous owners, but, as no agreements not to race him had been made, there was little they could do. The decision, I suspect, was even more unpopular when Kubla Khan won a race just at the end of the show jumping season and I was ready to start schooling him! Again I think that my Dad’s training principle of treating each horse as a separate animal paid off, and Kubla Khan retired from racing on a winning streak!

Kubla Khan took to show jumping like a fish to water; he would tackle anything and was possibly turning out to be the best horse I had ever owned!

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 

The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1

Not feeling well, but a fabulous day's racing for my Dad!

On our return to Rhodesia from the 1962 Beira show, we had a few days to settle the horses down and relax, before we were off again, this time to the Marandellas Agricultural Show. Marandellas is a town  about 50 miles east of Salisbury.

On arrival, I was not feeling too well, but it was an important show, so I pulled myself together and both Hy-Li-Li and ‘Smith' jumped well throughout. On the final day and the main event, the Grand Prix, I remember walking the course wondering what I was doing there, as I felt absolutely terrible! I can only think what a terrific horse Mr Smith must have been; I did nothing at all to help him in the event and still we managed third place, beaten only in the jump-off against the clock. I feel sure if he had been helped along the way, we could probably have notched up a Grand Prix win. Anyway, we had done our best and put the 'if only' thoughts out of our heads! On the way back home in the car, horsebox behind, Mum said she realised how bad I must be feeling, as she had never known me to drive so slowly (!) and the next morning I woke up to find myself covered with spots! The doctor duly made a house call and I was told that I had chicken pox. I was apparently at an age where I would probably get it quite badly and bed rest was the only answer. It took a good ten days for me to feel like going back to work and to this day I still have not got 100% hearing in my right ear, due to the effects of the illness.

Mr Smith 3rd place at 1962 Marandellas show.

During my time in bed, I managed to do some theory work, as I was due to take my British Horse Society Pony Club 'A test' at the end of September. This "top of the range" theory and practical test covers, amongst other things, anatomy, stable management, course designing, coaching, care of the horse, saddlery and paddocking, apart from all the riding and horsemanship aspects. 
At that time, there had only been one person who had taken, and passed the 'A Certificate' in Rhodesia, so I was more than determined that I would make the grade and add my name to the pass list! This I managed to do, with one other member of the Pony Club, so two more passes were added to the list!

Collecting the cup for a Pony Club Team event, for which I was the team captain.

In November, a young jockey named Dennis was visiting from South Africa; he'd previously ridden a few times for my Dad. He travelled with Dad and I and the two horses, Lady Heath and Jewel’s Reward, to a race meeting in Marandellas.

Lady Heath was in the first race, an amateur hurdle and due to be ridden by me. The second race a five furlong sprint and Jewel’s Reward was to be ridden by Ivan, one of the Rhodesian jockeys. Dennis was booked to ride him again in the last race over six furlongs. What a day it proved for my Dad, who was triumphant with three winners from two horses! See the "Salisbury Herald" newspaper report below.

On our arrival home, I remember Mum coming out  and asking how we had got on. Dennis, with a very long and dismal face, said “well, Diane won the first one with Lady Heath”,  and after a long pause , with Mum saying how pleased she was, he went on, “Ivan won the second race on Jewel’s Reward”.  Mum said that was wonderful, then Dennis, laughing out loud, said “and I won the last race on him as well”. Mum was quite overjoyed by this and we all went indoors to celebrate, after seeing the horses fed and settled in their stables. It was really quite an achievement. Two races for a horse in one day was an unusual occurrence, even in those days, but now it is unheard of. I am pleased to say that Jewel's Reward suffered no ill effects from the extra exercise and in fact he came back home looking all ready to race again!

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 

The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1

Selling a couple of my horses and Dad takes out his licence as a racehorse trainer.

At the beginning of 1961, the Mozambique Army approached me with an offer to buy Kismet from me; we were not really getting on that well together and the offer was a good one, so I accepted it and thus the stable shrunk to three horses. 

Kismet on his way to a new country.

Only a few weeks later, our  stable number reverted to four horses, when my boss, Bill Wakefield, offered me his stallion National Anthem, who had unfortunately proved to be sterile. 

National Anthem

National Anthem had been imported from the United Kingdom to stand at Borrowdale Stud. He had been second in the Derby Trial Stakes in the UK and had an impressive blood line. With the Derby winner Straight Deal as his sire and his great grand sire being Gainsborough, he would have improved the Rhodesian blood line no end, but sadly this was not to be. He was a very grand looking dappled grey of 16.3 hands high, with an amazing temperament for a stallion. He had not been ridden for some years, so training meant starting again at square one and I spent many hours with him in basic dressage and over small fences. 

National Anthem and myself in mid air over a fence.

Rustler, meanwhile, was proving to be a real handful and although we had a few wins along the way, I was fairly certain that he was never going to become anything other than average, whilst also causing me some dramatic surprises!

We were entered in one cross country event, where having discussed the water jump into a dam with various riders, it was decided that the sensible thing to do was take the first fence very gently, then ride around the shallow edge of the dam to take the second fence, out of the dam on the other side. Rustler, unfortunately, had his own ideas and, with some enthusiastic fly jumping approached the first fence. While I was trying desperately to slow him down, he took off for the jump with a huge leap that carried us right into the middle of the dam at its deepest point!  He was unable to keep his footing with the speed we were travelling and the inevitable happened; we somersaulted in the water. I was unable to hold on to the reins, and when I surfaced, blowing out jets of water, I saw him back on dry land, in a flat gallop, disappearing into the distance!  Fortunately, neither of us suffered any serious damage, but it really was the beginning of the end!  

A few weeks later, we found a buyer who was convinced they could do better with Rustler than I could!  I don’t ever remember seeing Rustler in the show ring again from that day on!

By 1962, Dad’s interest in horse racing had developed to the extent that he was keen to take out a trainer’s licence and start training race horses himself. A property on the Dombashawa Road in Borrowdale (a suburb of Salisbury) was up for rent, and it had a training yard of twelve stables, a tack room and a feed room, plus plenty of accommodation for the stable hands. It also had a small but adequate size training track, so a deal was struck and we rented out our existing house on the Lomagundi Rd and made the move to Borrowdale. It certainly suited me much better, as my drive to work was cut by half the distance!

Hy-Li-Li and myself in a cross country event. This time we stayed together, not as I did with Rustler in my narrative above!

The first two horses to move into our new yard, besides Dusky, National Anthem and Hy-Li-Li were Lady Heath and Jewel’s Reward. Lady Heath was a seasoned hurdler and Jewel’s Reward was a two year old that had been home bred and was still owned by the breeder. 

In May that year, Lady Heath became my Dad’s first winner, when, with me riding, she won an amateur hurdle race at Marandellas, a small town not far away.   Dad then found owners who were prepared to give him a chance with their horses and so he filled the stables up with flat race horses; mainly ones, I might add, that had been rejected by other trainers as being unsuccessful!  Because he trained each horse as an individual and not using bulk training, he had a certain amount of unexpected success with these rejects.  Unexpected it was to other people, but not really to us, as my Dad was very committed to this new activity.  The stable expanded again and another 6 stables were built at the back,  soon to be filled with new prospects!

Myself leading Rear Guard into the winner's enclosure for my Dad (who is holding my handbag for me!).  The owner, Jack Quinton, was absent on that day, so the honour went to me!

My Life Before Charente to be continued :-) 

 

The section of my life story during our overland trip is published on Kindle if you should be interested:-

 

See

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-1953-TREK-ebook/dp/B008KK0KHU/ref=pd_ys_iyr1