Kirsty Chabert has said a final goodbye to the 23-year-old Opposition Detective, the home-bred horse who first took her to the top levels of eventing.
“‘Barney’ was home-bred by my dad and was given to me when he was three as an 18th birthday present,” said Kirsty, adding that her father took inspiration from watching Midsomer Murders for the horse’s name.
John Johnston bred Barney by his foundation stallion Fleetwater Opposition, out of a mare called Hathor by the thoroughbred Ra Nova.
“I did everything with him from scratch,” said Kirsty. “I remember taking him cross-country schooling for the first time and it was dark before we left because I couldn’t get him in the water.
“I could never get on him without someone standing in front of him – otherwise he’d spin round and face me the whole time.”
The pair’s first success together was coming second in the British Eventing national four-year-old championships in 2007.
Opposition Detective took Kirsty to “so many incredible firsts” – from the seven-year-old World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers to her first CCI3* (now CCI4*-L) at Bramham Horse Trials in 2014 and her first CCI4* (now CCI5*) at Luhmühlen Horse Trials in 2015.
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Kirsty won the Laurence Rook Trophy, for the best British competitor who has not previously completed the event, on their debut at Badminton 2016.
Kirsty Chabert (then Johnston) and Opposition Detective complete Badminton on their debut in 2016
(Image credit: Alamy)
“He’s my best mate and would be the perfect husband – I’ve just got engaged so I hope my husband can live up to Barney,” said Kirsty at that Badminton.
Kirsty told H&H swimming was a big part of Barney’s fitness programme for four- and five-stars and he was “a bit of a water baby”, swimming many laps.
Opposition Detective: ‘a heart of gold’
In his retirement, Barney went to Freddie Ravenscroft, the son of Kirsty’s farrier.
“He won the Pony Club open tetrathlon championships on him, where obviously the rider has to get on and off mid-course [to open and close a slip rail] – that was a long-standing joke as I never thought he’d be able to do it, but in his older years he was superb,” said Kirsty.
“The Ravenscroft family gave him the most incredible retirement and he was loved by every single one of them as much as he was loved by us all.”
The rider also paid tribute to Denny Russell, who jointly owned Barney with her.
“Barney had a heart of gold and was the nicest character to deal with – he was definitely a firm favourite among everybody,” said Kirsty, describing the horse as “my absolute superhero and horse of a lifetime”.
“Thank you for everything, Barney. One in a million, forever in my heart.”
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
