We all know eventing is magic, but some people like to inject extra wizardry into our sport by giving their horse a name related to the Harry Potter series. JK Rowling’s books – and of course the films that followed – are full of brilliant names, places and words which have given rise to some super fun names for our equine partners…
As an example, Jane Reid and Alice Newling were successful with a horse called Diagon Alley, who won up to intermediate level, as well as competing at advanced and at the British intermediate championships. His name is taken from the street where Hagrid takes the young Harry to buy his school supplies early in the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Over in the USA, Jacob Fletcher has competed up to four-star level on a horse called 501 Mischief Managed. Harry Potter fans will know that “Mischief Managed” is the phrase characters say to wipe the Marauder’s Map, which shows not only Hogwarts school and its grounds but also everyone’s location in them, in real time.
Baddies often have the best names, so Ellie Hughes turned to the female uber-villain Bellatrix to name her home-bred mare, who won four times at BE90 under her owner and Lisa Pilbeam. A wizarding association was particularly appropriate because the mare’s dam was called Spellbound VII. British Eventing (BE) has a couple of other Bellatrixes listed, as well as a Dancing Bellatrix.
Mr Dumbledore is perhaps the most successful event horse with a Harry Potter name – which is only right for a horse named after the authoritative and ever-popular Hogwarts headmaster Professor Dumbledore. He won Bramham and Boekelo CCI3*s (now CCI4*-Ls) under William Fox-Pitt and competed at the now five-star level with Ruth Edge.
British Eventing boasts a couple of horses called Quidditch who have competed at grassroots level, Quidditch being the ball game played on broomsticks in the wizarding world.
And what of the man himself? BE has seven horses registered called Harry Potter or a variation on the theme. Three of them – Harry Potter II, West Country Harry Potter, and World Horse Welfare Harry Potter – have scored wins during their BE careers, which is surely an above average hit rate and, we like to think, proves the power of a magic name.
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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.
