Hovis’ Paris diary: ‘Guys, we need legs like riverdance and faster switchback turns than a politician on the radio’

Hovis the horse pictured draped in a union flag with another fixed to the fence in front of him, plus a small flag tucked into the headpiece of his bridle
(Image credit: Karen Thompson)

Dear Diary

What can I say? I did the “I told you so” yesterday so I think it’s “I told you so with a cherry on top” today. Did I or did I not tell you all for YEARS that I am the greatest secret weapon in the equestrian world? In my hay day I would have gone around that course myself in a way that no one would have seen before – now I am a little older, a little wiser and slightly more creaky, I have held fast to the view that I would make the best chef de squeak the world has ever seen. Due to the vision, bravery and foresight of their new CEO, British Eventing came to their senses and admitted this and LOOK WHAT IS HAPPENING…

Hovis
The Destroyer

Hovis shared his weekly diary each Friday on the Horse & Hound website between 2008 and February 2025. Initially located on the popular H&H forum, he moved to the main website in February 2013. He published nine books, each to raise funds for his local equine welfare charity Bransby Horses. You can read all his diary entries below.  H&H also published a final tribute to our much-loved equine contributor.

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