New mum rounds off ‘maternity leave’ by tackling Burghley on her former stock horse
If you find high achievers discouraging, look the other way. At 27 years old Sophia Hill is making her debut at Defender Burghley Horse Trials with a 10-month-old baby in tow – having already made the Adelaide CCI5* podium in her homeland. She performed her dressage test on Friday morning (6 September), scoring 36.9 on her ex-racehorse Humble Glory (Hughie).
Sophia, who is also a grand prix showjumper, made the trip over from Victoria with two horses, Hughie and four-star campaigner Seattle Park, plus her husband Andrew and baby Oliver. She has been based with Nicola Wilson in Yorkshire, just moving down to stay with her countryman Chris Burton in Dorset for the past two weeks.
Remarkably, for a new mum who has been been campaigning at four-star all season, Sophia describes the five months in Britain as like “a family holiday – and maternity leave rolled into one”.
“We have had a fantastic time,” says Sophia, thanking Nicola and husband Alastair for all their support. “My husband is a farrier at home but can’t work here because of visas so he’s been full time looking after Oliver and my mum has been over to help too.
“I only have two horses here and I can’t count how many I have at home. I usually compete a team of horses so with just two we haven’t known what to do with ourselves. It’s been quite easy to have a baby alongside!”
Sophia Hill hoping for Burghley Horse Trials to be her UK highlight
Humble Glory is a full thoroughbred who won three CCI4*-S on the trot last spring before finishing third at Adelaide. But the 13-year-old had a less auspicious start.
“He was a racehorse, but he wasn’t very fast,” says Sophia. “Some friends had him and he did some stock work with them – he’s a quiet cool dude who’d do anything. They wanted us to sell him, so brought him over to us in a stock crate with the roof open. He was fat, unassuming, you would never pick him as a top-level athlete. I put him in a paddock, then started riding him and jumping him and he could really jump. I thought, ‘oh wow, I’d better hang on to him for a bit’.”
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He’s now one of the top horses in Australia, and since coming to the UK Sophia has competed at Bicton, Bramham and was reserve for the Paris Olympics, citing Bramham as a highlight.
“But I’m hoping for Burghley to be the true highlight,” she said. “His dressage was the best he’s scored since we’ve been in England, and I’m relieved because he’s not the easiest horse in this phase and can get really tense.
“Burghley is spectacular. The course is huge but amazing. I’ve never seen anything quite like the Leaf Pit, but I am excited to tackle it.”
The family head back home to Australia on Tuesday, with Humble Glory going into quarantine on Monday.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.