It is an emotional return for Phoebe Buckley, who is back at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials after 12 years away. She is riding Tiger Mail, the son of her former top horse Little Tiger. Back in 2008, the 15hh grey finished 16th and best mare, the prize for which was an embryo transfer at Twemlows. The result was Tiger Mail, now a 12-year-old, by Jaguar Mail.
“It sounds corny, but having Tiger Mail is beyond my wildest dreams,” says Phoebe. “It hardly happens that any horse gets to Burghley, but having had his mum and ridden her here, it just doesn’t happen. She last came here in 2010, the year he was born – he was pretty much conceived here!”
They scored 38.9, which put them in the lower echelons of the leader board, but Phoebe was “absolutely delighted”.
“He isn’t bad at dressage, but he finds the atmosphere really daunting,” she says. “As a young person, he would have been a choirboy, not up for a party or a rave, so it’s more been teaching him to take a breath and realise he’s OK. He made a tiny little mistake at the beginning, but then he settled in.
“He loves the crowd on cross-country day because they give him adrenaline, but he doesn’t need that for the dressage. He’s just starting to realise they’re here to watch him, not hinder him.
“So for him, that was good – he’s not a big-moving horse, more of a pony, he’s only 15.2hh.”
Phoebe Buckley: ‘He’s a needy bloke’
Phoebe describes her ride as the polar opposite to his dam.
“She was quite cool and calm, a proper strong independent woman, whereas he’s more of a needy bloke,” she says. “He’d tell you he loved you on the first date, then need his mum there for the second one. I feel sorry for him, everyone says, ‘if he’s half as good as his mum…’ – I say, ‘shhh, stop comparing them!’
“He was never naturally brave as a young horse, even at BE100, but he always had his ears pricked and would be reassured by a pat. As we’ve gone up the levels, he’s gained the self-belief to realise it isn’t that hard. He’s now a fantastic cross-country horse, so honest and genuine.”
Phoebe voiced her appreciation for the patience of Val Gingell, who owned Little Tiger and now owns her son, and “allows us both to make mistakes and learn from them”.
“It’s been all about giving him time,” she says. “She said, ‘do 15 novices if you need to. I don’t need him winning a novice, I want him at Burghley when he’s 12’. And here he is at Burghley when he’s 12. And now she’s saying, ‘We’ve made it here, so you don’t need to wear a watch, just go as fast as you can and come home safe.’”
Phoebe “can’t wait to get stuck in” to Derek di Grazia’s Burghley cross-country track.
“The course is really clever, big but not ridiculous. I think you’re going to need a really genuine horse, you can’t swing out or take an easy round route. I think it’s a brilliant Burghley.”
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