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Milton: Great horses in history

Milton and John Whitaker

Penny Richardson

13 February, 2008

When the late Caroline Bradley bought a little dark grey foal in 1977, she told her parents, Tom and Doreen, that he would become the best show jumper in the world.

And she was proved right, because the foal grew up to become Milton, show jumping’s first millionaire and the subject of countless books and videos.

Milton was a rarity. He was the product of careful selection by John Harding-Rolls at a time when British sport horse breeding was in its infancy. Caroline bought him because he was by Marius, a Dutch-bred stallion she had partnered to many successes, out of a part-Arab mare from whom he inherited his coat colour and tremendous presence. He also ended up much bigger than his sire, standing 16.3hh in his prime.

Caroline never wavered in her hopes for her “baby” and he could not have had a better producer. She brought Milton on slowly, but he impressed many people throughout his novice career, during which he surprisingly failed to qualify for the Foxhunter final after spooking at cars parked around the ringside.

“He was green and his front legs were dangly, but he had star quality,” remembers John Whitaker, with whom Milton was eventually to forge a dream partnership.

Milton was ready to go on when tragedy struck. Caroline collapsed and died at Suffolk County Show in 1983. The Bradleys offered the ride to John, whose sympathetic style they thought would suit their horse, but he was unable to help at that time and Steve Hadley, now a BBC commentator but then one of our leading international riders, took over.

John was given the ride in the autumn of 1985, when Milton was an eight-year-old. He jumped the horse at a couple of small shows and then took him to Berlin indoor show, where he finished third in the small grand prix. And that was the beginning of a great partnership that swept all before it. Milton became the best known horse in the world, collecting fan clubs wherever he travelled.

The pair’s victories were countless, and Milton and John became the mainstays of Britain’s all-conquering team, jumping seven consecutive double clears in Nations Cup.

Ronnie Massarella, Britain’s chef d’equipe during that golden era, recalls: “Milton gave me my greatest years in the sport and he and John were the perfect ambassadors for British show jumping. Milton had something no other horse had.”

John soon discovered that Milton loved the limelight. At one show, the grey gave little leaps of excitement during the prize-giving. “So I went away and worked on it,” recalls John. The result was that if his rider moved his legs during a presentation, Milton would perform acrobatic leaps a Spanish Riding School star would have been proud of; this always led to a standing ovation.

Such was the media attention that it cost Milton the 1990 World Championship in Stockholm. Photographers ran about, falling over in their efforts to catch the horse in action, and this distracted Milton, causing him to make a rare error.

He also missed the Olympic gold he so deserved. The Bradleys did not want Milton to travel to Seoul in 1988, fearing that the journey would be too much for him and, despite much pressure — including the banishment of the horse and rider from Nations Cup teams for a season — would not budge.

When Milton finally got his chance, in Barcelona in 1992, he was past his prime. He hated the Spanish going and heat, but such was his class that he was in the lead coming into the final round. But a stumble in the deep sand after jumping into a double left him with no option but to stop, and a medal slipped away.

When Milton retired at Olympia in December 1994, it was as show jumping’s first millionaire, with winnings of more than £1.25m. But John must also take great credit, because the “wonder horse” did have a flaw. His long stride made it difficult for him to clear verticals and John had to change his own style by shortening his stirrups and standing Milton off.

Milton retired to the Whitakers’ Yorkshire farm. He made some public appearances,

but after he survived major colic surgery in 1998, the decision was made to let him live out his life in happy retirement with his best friend, Hopscotch.

The following year, the colic returned and this time, the old horse could not fight it off. He died in July 1998.

Milton may have been a superstar, but he was also a typical horse.

“He often had a battle of wills with our grooms and would push them as far as he could by rooting to the spot or refusing to go into his stable. He also used to take his rugs off and shred them, and if he didn’t fancy doing something, he would blow raspberries,” says John.

“He was a truly great horse. We grew up together and we were partners. I was privileged to ride him.”

This feature was first published in Horse & Hound (16 October 2003)



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