‘He’s like Peter Pan’: 20-year-old superstar who broke his pedal bone comes back to win two national titles – and he ‘genuinely loves it’
The horse did not enjoy his retirement after a successful international career so has come back to doing what he loves
The rider of a dressage horse who was supposed to retire after a successful career but has overcome a broken bone to be a double national champion aged 20 said it is a privilege to have him in her life.
Sondra Rutter first rode Sirocco (Sushi) as a youngster, years ago, and got on with him so well that when it was clear he was not enjoying his retirement, owner Helen Illes remembered the bond and offered Sondra the ride.
Just this year, they were placed in both advanced medium classes at the Hickstead Masters, won the prix st georges (PSG) bronze freestyle at the summer Area Festival, came fourth at that level at the Area Festival Championships – and won the gold and overall advanced medium in the veteran horse 20+ category at the British Dressage Associated Championships (28 October-2 November).
“Everything is about him,” Sondra told H&H. “As long as he wants to keep doing it, we will.”
Sondra met Sushi when he was three and she went with Helen to Germany to collect him. She had him for a few months, then he went off to Amy Woodhead, at Carl Hester’s yard. He later went to Kate Cowell. He competed successfully up to international intermediate I level, until 2020, when he retired aged 14.
“They were working him towards grand prix and it was just a step too far for him,” Sondra said. “So they retired him and he was out of work for about two years. But both the vet and the physio said ‘This horse needs to work’.
“He was unhappy, he was struggling with his body, he was stiff, he was tight, he wasn’t happy in life. He was on a beautiful yard where they took fantastic care of him but it just wasn’t something he was enjoying; he loved getting out to compete.
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“So the owner called me, because she remembered I rode him when he was a baby and we got on very well, and asked if I’d be interested in riding him again.”
Sondra most definitely was. They started competing together in 2023, winning repeatedly that year and the following two.
“It was very nice to be partnered with him all those years later,” she said.
“I think we got on straight away. He definitely chooses his people; he did have another rider try him in between and it didn’t work out for whatever reason but the two of us just cracked on and got on with it again. It’s been lovely for me to have a horse who I don’t have the pressure of producing him or of results. It’s just lovely to be able to ride him and go out to a competition for pure enjoyment.”
Then last July, aged 19, Sushi injured himself in the field and was found to have a broken pedal bone.
“He went out sound and came in hopping lame,” Sondra said. “He had to do three months of box rest but I really didn’t think he was going to come back from it.
“The vets felt he had a good chance of recovery but whether it was going to be up to competing and doing what he was before, it was kind of wait and see. I felt it would be more the rest of him; being on box rest and not being able to move and keep his body going. Certainly at that age, that’s when you know arthritis is starting to be a bit more prevalent and they stiffen up and lose condition so quickly.”
Sondra was given exercises from her physio to do in the stable and she hand-walked Sushi once he was allowed – “It was like trying to hand-walk a crocodile on speed!” she said – then brought him slowly back into work.
“He’s come back amazingly,” she said. “The hand-walking had been far more exciting than was strictly necessary and then if you tried to trot him up, he trotted out like a grand prix horse so it was a case of get on and pray. I did the five minutes’ hand walking then got on him for two minutes, just really building it up so slowly.”
But Sushi was back in work at the start of this year, competing again in March and at Hickstead in May.
“He was so happy,” Sondra said. “He loved Hickstead, he was so happy to be there. I spent the first two days having to be led back and forth to the arena because he was so excited; it was like riding a fire-breathing dragon! He was so happy to be out and it was just incredible; it was one of those competitions that just went so well, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
A summer of success came to a close with the brace of wins at the associated championships.
“It was lovely to have done a test I was proud of,” Sondra said. “The last two freestyles we did, I had to freestyle it a bit in the test and rearrange a few bits. I’d got stuck in one of my canter pirouettes, so I had to get out of that one, do the next one then try to find a line where I could repeat the first one! But this was just a test where nothing went wrong, no errors, it was lovely.
“One of the judges commented how wonderful it was to see a horse his age with that much elasticity, and it was just one of those days, everything worked. It was sunny, it was just beautiful. My friend Liz Bourne was there grooming for me, and she’s groomed for pretty much all of his competitions, so it just felt incredible.”
Sondra said she feels Sushi’s story shows that some horses are not ready to retire; even if they are not at the level or achieving the results they once were, they still enjoy it and the rider can too.
Sushi with his top groom Liz Bourne
“It’s a privilege to be partnering him again,” she said.
“His owner’s so excited for him, and for me it’s so nice to have a horse and the owner is willing to say ‘He may not be at the top of his game any more but he has another chapter in his life that he could do’. I think so many people are afraid to let their top horses who have been performing at the top, maybe not be at the top but still be going out and doing something the horse genuinely loves.”
Sondra described Sushi as cheeky, “a “real sweetheart” who can be rather “explosive” out hacking owing to his excitement rather than any malice, and a horse who loves his job.
“The bigger the competition, the better it is for him,” she said. “He loves a championship, the feeling of it, the more you ask of him, the more he likes it. With basic work he gets quite bored but as soon as you pick him up and say ‘We’re going to start half passes, or do a line of four-time changes’, he’s ‘Woo-hoo’, and he just lights up.”
Sondra added that the plan for the winter is hacking and some light schooling, then she will look at Sushi’s competition options for next year.
“What this year has been about is actually saying ‘Keep going because there are good times ahead’,” she said. “Sometimes it does work out. And to finish the season on a competition where everything went well, and we came back with two sashes – it was just a fabulous day.
“Nothing about that horse is like a 20-year-old; he’s like Peter Pan; the horse who just never grew up.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.