A young rider who lost her dream horse in a horrific road collision is taking on a charity Flat race in his memory, and to help prevent others facing a similar situation.
Tinks Walker still has flashbacks of the accident in May, when her 10-year-old event horse Killossery Kaptain (Benny) was fatally injured on the road. She is in training for the race at Newbury on 5 November, in which she will be riding to raise funds for and awareness of the British Horse Society’s (BHS) Dead Slow road safety campaign.
“My aim is for me to speak out so people don’t have to go through what I’ve been through,” she said.
Benny, owned by Tinks’ grandmother Margaret Silver and Fi Rutland, had been with Laura Collett, who had competed him with success to four-star level.
“He just didn’t really see the point of dressage!” Tinks said. “He just wanted to jump. Laura said she thought he’d be great for me, a perfect young rider’s horse. It all happened quite quickly, and he came home with us about a month later.”
Tinks and Benny did their first event together early this year, and jumped clear in the showjumping and across country.
“Then we went to Moreton and I missed a fence across country,” she said. “We’d done an ok dressage, and he’d jumped beautifully showjumping, then, sack the jockey, I missed a fence, so that wasn’t ideal! But I couldn’t fault the cross-country. I’ve always struggled being brave cross-country and to have a horse I knew had jumped unholy sized fences gave me so much confidence.
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(Image credit: Netia Walker)
“He nannied me and I was enjoying it. I was thinking ‘We’ve got this’.”
Tinks and Benny jumped another double clear at Tweseldown “my favourite cross-country round ever”.
“It’s really nice to look back on; it was such a wonderful day,” Tinks said. “We were all very excited that our next event was going to be the novice at Oxtalls. I was exercising him on the Thursday, and sadly that’s when our accident happened.”
Benny was injured so badly in the collision, he had to be put down on the roadside.
Tinks was put in touch with BHS head of safety Alan Hiscox, who has been supporting the family. The Walkers are taking legal action in relation to the incident.
Tinks was then invited to take part in the race, and her uncle Ed Walker, of Kingsdown Stables, has been training her.
“It gave me something to think about that wasn’t the accident,” she said. “It’s been a very tough journey, I still get horrendous flashbacks. If I close my eyes, I can still see it all happening.”
Tinks started training this summer, and thinks she is “slowly getting the hang of it!”
“I thought it was just cantering up gallops but absolutely not; I was humbled very quickly!” she said. “It’s been everything I’ve ever been told not to do; I’d always been told shoulders away from their shoulders, body tall, weight in your heels, now it’s ‘Can’t touch your knees, and if you think you’re low enough, you’re definitely not’. It’s been a complete adjustment but a really cool experience.
“I’m really looking forward to it, it’s nice to take on something completely different, something I never thought I’d be able to do.”
Tinks and her mother Netia paid tribute to their beloved Benny, the “nicest character horse we ever had”, who they felt took pride in showing his rider the ropes.
“He was everything I’ve ever wanted in my life,” Tinks said. “Sitting on him was like I had won the lottery. Every time I sat on him, all I could think was how lucky I was.
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.
