The Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award winner is selected by a panel to celebrate the life and work of the individual whose contribution to the equestrian world is unparalleled and worthy of highest praise.
Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement 2024: William Fox-Pitt
William Fox-Pitt received the 2024 Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award having bowed out of top-level competition this year after winning 20 senior championship medals and a record 14 five-stars.
William Fox-Pitt holds his trophy after receiving the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award 2024.
Reflecting on the decision to retire at Badminton in May, William said: “I’m 55, nothing is forever and I was thinking, ‘When is the moment?’ I thought at Badminton, ‘Do I really want to come back here again, do I really want to go through that whole thing again?’ and the answer was no.
“My one fear was I didn’t want to look scared and old – I wanted to stop while I could still ride. I had a good ride at Badminton, I was really lucky with my mare Grafennacht, she went beautifully, and I thought, ‘That’s not going to happen again, so I’m out’.”
William also looked back on how his career started. He grew up with horses, but after university, his father started to ask when he was “going to have a real life”.
He said: “I was just leaving university when I was given a very good horse to ride called Chaka. I was not in the same league as that horse – he’d been at top level with Judy Herbert and I think the owner Michael Turner wanted to give him to a boy and thought a nice young rider would do what he was told.
“I was so lucky to have him. He straight away put me on the British team, I won my first Burghley on him – I look back and don’t know how that happened. People sent me horses and suddenly I thought, ‘I’ve got horses to ride, I’ve got a sponsor, an income, why the hell do I want a job?’ and that’s how it started.”
In a touching video of messages from former team-mates and equestrian greats played at the ceremony, former eventing world champion Zara Tindall paid tribute to William, saying: “You have been a true inspiration to me and many others, as well as a great friend.
“I’ve had the honour to ride on teams with you and being able to learn from you, absorb your knowledge, strength of mind and pure class is something I’ll treasure forever. You always took the ups and downs with dignity and professionalism and the sport will miss you more than it knows.”
Previous worthy winners of this award include:
- 2023: The late Queen’s former stud manager Terry Pendry
- 2022: David Broome
- 2021: showing supremo Allister Hood
- 2020: Lucinda Green
- 2019: Bob Ellis
- 2018: Cptn Mark Phillips
- 2017: the late 11th Duke of Beaufort
- 2016: Nick Skelton
About the Horse & Hound Awards 2024
The Horse & Hound Awards returned for a ninth year in a row, in partnership with NAF and Agria.
As ever, the Horse & Hound Awards winners were nominated and voted for by you, with the exception of the Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement award, which was decided by a Horse & Hound panel. We will recognise both the big names who have made 2024 special and the unsung heroes who make it possible for all of us to enjoy equestrian sport and our horses, at whatever level.
This year we returned to Dallas Burston Polo Club in Warwickshire, where some 300 people, including Olympic and Paralympic superstars, enjoyed a glamorous evening of champagne, winner reveals, Oscar-style speeches and dancing on Wednesday 27 November.
