Francis Whittington tells H&H about the ‘cross-country machine’ who’s allergic to carrots.
Fact file
Stable name: Percy Pickle
Age: 15
Height: 16.2hh
Sire: Puissance
Discipline: eventing
Owner: Margrete Paget
Groom: Sharon Mepham
Best result: won Burnham Market CIC***-W 2008; 10th Burghley 2010
Four things you didn’t know…
1 He cannot eat carrots due to allergies and has to have special haylage.
2 He likes to have [team dressage trainer] Tracie Robinson at the cross-country start and finish. “She has a very calming effect on him, and when he’s breathing heavily or tired, she settles him down,” says Francis. “He must be the only event horse who needs a dressage trainer for cross-country.”
3 He has had leg trouble and has been kept sound for the past five years by his ArcEquine leg kit. He wears it every night, home or away, and it keeps inflammation down.
4 His breeding is unknown. He was DNA-tested last year to establish he is by Puissance, but his dam remains a mystery.
To read the full interview with Francis Whittington about Sir Percival III see the 22 November issue of H&H
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