Jane Holderness-Roddam is the worthy winner of the 2025 Horse & Hound Lifetime Achievement Award, after her unparalleled contribution to the equestrian industry.

Jane’s name was announced to huge applause, at the Horse & Hound Awards ceremony – held in partnership with NAF and Agria – at Dallas Burston Polo Club this evening.

H&H magazine and eventing editor Pippa Roome said: “Jane’s story with Our Nobby is the stuff of every child’s dreams – to take our pony all the way to a Badminton win and the Olympics – and she has gone on to become a hugely respected figure in equestrianism, her influence touching so many different areas to which she has generously given her time and expertise.

“She has always been unfailingly kind and friendly to me whenever I see her at events and it is a huge honour for H&H to give her this Lifetime Achievement award as she retires from running West Kington Stud.”

Jane was born into the Bullen family in Dorset in 1948, and grew up surrounded by horses and ponies at her parents’ Catherston Stud, alongside three brothers – Anthony, Michael, and Charlie – and two sisters, Jennie and Sarah.

It was a childhood of riding ponies bareback on the beach, swimming with them in the sea, hunting, taking part in Pony Club activities and learning everything about how to care for them, but the Bullen children also showed ponies – those bred by her parents and others belonging to owners – at the highest level.

As she writes in her wonderful book, The Galloping Nurse, Jane made her competitive debut aged 31/2 to win the cup for the leading-rein class at Richmond.

At the age of seven, Jane and Jennie and three ponies (Royal Show, Criban Bumble and Coed Coch Pryderi) were flown by Miss Stubbings, who owned many of the ponies they rode, to compete in New York at Madison Square Gardens and Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair, and the spark was lit for an international career in equestrianism for both girls.

Jane’s first taste of eventing was as part of the Cattistock branch of the Pony Club’s area team – which was almost entirely made up of Bullens – on a pony called Little Robin.

When Jane was 11, the family moved from Dorset to Didmarton in Gloucestershire, and the Catherston Stud was reduced from about 150 ponies to 20. The Duke of Beaufort gave the Bullens permission to ride in the park at Badminton, which was just a mile from their new home, and Jane had her first look at the formidable fences of the three-day event he had founded there. A year later her brother Mike rode two horses at Badminton, finishing ninth and 16th, and that year (1960) he became the first member of the Bullen family to ride at the Olympics, which were in Rome. Jane and Jennie, under her married name of Loriston-Clarke, were to follow him in time.

Also in 1960, Jane’s parents paid £150 for a 14.2hh thoroughbred – “thin and scruffy-looking, with a ewe neck – called Our Nobby. Seven years later, Jane and Our Nobby made their first attempt at Badminton, for which Jane, who was training to be a nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, got fit by running up and down the wards and skipping on the flat roof of the hospital at 6.30am. The pair finished fifth and were short-listed for the European Championships at Punchestown, then finished third at Burghley that autumn.

The following year, in 1968, Jane and Nobby achieved every young event rider’s dream and won Badminton and were selected for the Mexico Olympics. Jane was just 20, and she was the first British woman to compete in three-day eventing at the Olympics. In extraordinary conditions of high altitude, extreme humidity and flooding, the British team won gold – Jane was the first woman to win an Olympic eventing medal, and returned home a national hero.

Our Nobby was retired after the Olympics, but a few years later, in 1976, Jane won Burghley on Warrior, owned by Suzie Howard, and they scored at Badminton in 1978. They were also part of the gold medal-winning British team at the European Championships at Burghley in 1977.

In 1974 she married Tim Holderness-Roddam, and they moved to Church Farm, West Kington, Wiltshire, where they ran a very successful stud. Sadly, Tim died in 2021, and was much missed in eventing.

Jane may have stopped nursing after her marriage, but life continued at pace, including some fascinating trips overseas as a lady-in-waiting to the Princess Royal, running the London Marathon for the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy, and doing a tandem skydive to raise thousands of pounds for the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA).

Jane has devoted huge energy to her many roles in equestrianism, her chairmanship of British Eventing coming at a particularly challenging time, through a series of deaths in the sport and the onset of foot-and-mouth. She has been president of British Eventing, of the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy, the British Equestrian Trade Society and the Caspian Horse Society. She is a former national chairman of the RDA, and a former council chairman of the British Equestrian Federation. She is author of more than 25 equestrian books. In 2009 she was presented with the Queen’s Award for Equestrianism.

Jane has given exceptional service to equestrian sport as a judge, steward and official, much valued for her kindness, her wisdom, her positivity and her friendliness.

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Tributes have poured in for the contribution West Kington Stud has made to the equestrian world, as its director and co-founder Jane Holderness-Roddam has announced she is to step down.

The stud will close at the end of this year, after 30 years of work that has had immeasurable benefits in Britain and across the world, for rare and native breeds, riding poniess, Arabs and sport horses – and those who own and enjoy them.

“It’s been great fun,” Jane told H&H. “It was a hard decision to make but it is the right time.”

West Kington was set up in the mid-1990s by Jane and her late husband Tim Holderness-Roddam, with the late Martin Boyle of Stallion Reproduction Services, a global expert in freezing stallion semen, and Tessa Clarke as stud manager.

“I originally was thinking more of thoroughbreds and ponies, but it evolved into being a bit of everything,” Jane said. “We did quite a lot for rare breeds, we had some lovely thoroughbred stallions, particularly Meadowbrook, then gradually more ponies, gypsy cobs and sport horses – Cevin Z was probably our most successful one in latter years.

“We’ve had some lovely horses – Party Trick, Chilli Morning; a lot of good ones, as well as a lot of rare breeds, which was great fun. We’ve diversified into all sorts of things over the years.”

Advances in AI

Jane said the stud’s contribution is greatly owing to the influence of advances in artificial insemination (AI).

“That revolutionised breeding really. You can send sperm all over the world now and it’s great fun when you hear there’s a foal by such-and-such born in Kenya or New Zealand,” she said. “Being able to help and advise people all over the world, how to do it and bring on the youngstock – it’s all been great fun.

“We like to think we’ve contributed quite a lot, with expertise and knowledge and helping in every way we possibly could.”

Tessa, who stayed at West Kington for 25 years, told H&H she had worked with Jane’s sister, Jennie Loriston-Clarke, at Catherston Stud for 11 years, where the use of AI in equine breeding started in this country.

“Jane phoned me up one day and said, ‘Have a think, but I really want to develop a breeding business or a stud at Church Farm,” Tessa said. “And her lovely words were, ‘And I want to be better than my sister!’

“We started with a couple of New Forest then we had a Shire, an Exmoor and then stallions like Jumbo, Catherston Dazzler, Kilvington Scoundrel. We had the most fantastic yard and it all carried on from there. It ran like magic.”

Tessa said the rare and native breed work gave more people access to these horses and ponies, and helped keep gene pools diverse. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust became involved and the team would travel the country assessing stallions to ensure those with the right semen and bloodlines arrived.

“The concept was the best of British breeding, but it was quality control and quality management,” Tessa said. “The attention to detail was second to none and we never took a shortcut.”

Happy stallions

Tessa said keeping stallions happy was also key, with turnout and varied work, but also that making frozen semen an option made more stallions available.

She paid tribute to the generations of friends made through the stud, and to Jane.

“She was always there as the ambassador,” she said. “She was absolutely fantastic, very committed, especially to the foaling side. That’s the magic and that’s what I really miss from the stud; you never tire of that.”

“It’s a very passionate thing,” she added. “I’m very blessed to have a relationship with Jane. I think she’s enjoyed the stud, and she’s the perfect balance of knowledge dealing with people; she’s a great ambassador and utterly charming.”

Tullis Matson of Stallion AI Services told H&H that what West Kington achieved was “quite incredible”.

“What an amazing lady,” he said. “We started about the same time and always said that as a competitor, they were one of the best to work alongside. They’re always so professional and what they’ve done for the sport horse industry – using new techniques, bringing it all to the forefront – has been incredible. I understand her decision – but what a legacy.”

British Horse Foundation president Jane Nixon added: “From a personal perspective, and I know my late husband, vet Stewart Hastie, would agree, wherever Jane is and whatever she does is always with kindness towards other people and appreciation of their efforts towards other people, and to all types of equines. Whether it be British Equestrian, rare breeds, producing the best from the best at West Kington or working with the world-renowned veterinarian the mate Martin Boyle, producing cutting-edge breeding techniques over several decades.”

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Top equestrians Jane Holderness-Roddam and Gemma Stevens – and two donkeys – were among the special guests at Brooke’s Christmas carol service in London.

Broadcaster and Brooke patron Alastair Stewart and comedian Rory Bremner were also at the Guards’ Chapel in Westminster last night (12 December), to which guests were welcomed by donkeys Pixie and Kiska. The event marked the equine welfare charity’s 90th anniversary.

Mr Stewart said: “We [Brooke supporters] support Brooke because we care passionately about working animals.

“The progress Brooke has made globally on the evil donkey skin trade is a fantastic example of how we as human beings can really work together to benefit these animals.

“From all of us here at Brooke, a very happy Christmas to you, and to horses, donkeys and mules all over the world, a happy, safe and peaceful year to you all.”

Brooke was formed in 1934 by Dorothy Brooke, who set out to help the emaciated war horses who were abandoned in Egypt after the First World War.

Rory Bremner said: “It was so wonderful to see so many people at the Guards’ Chapel; Dorothy Brooke started this 90 years ago, it’s extraordinary to think about.

“Now, 90 years on, Brooke is helping horses, donkeys, mules in India, Pakistan, South America and beyond, where they can be overworked or used for their skins in the case of donkeys, Brooke is there to help them. By being at the service, people can support their work for this year and beyond.”

Brooke’s 90th anniversary events are sponsored by The Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust, which has donated more than £1m to the charity to date.

Brooke CEO Chris Wainwright said: “This very special evening commemorated the 90th anniversary of Brooke’s commitment to ending the suffering of working horses, donkeys and mules across the world.

“The performance from the Guards’ Chapel Choir was phenomenal, and we are so grateful to all that attended to give their support.

“We would like to sincerely thank the Sir Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust for their longstanding support and most generous sponsorship of Brooke’s 90th anniversary events this year.”

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Eventing legends, awe-inspiring Hickstead moments and rising stars were honoured at the 2023 British Equestrian Media Association’s (BEMA) awards lunch at the London International Horse Show on Thursday (14 December).

Double Badminton winner Jane Holderness-Roddam was the recipient of BEMA’s lifetime achievement award, which was announced during the lunch and then presented by chairman Rupert Bell in the main arena during the evening performance, ahead of the grand prix freestyle.

Jane said she was “very touched” to receive the award.

Jane scored her first Badminton win in 1968, by dint of a friendly matron giving her time off from her nursing job in the obstetrics department of the Middlesex Hospital. Later that year, when she became the first British woman to compete on an Olympic eventing team – and win a gold medal – the press dubbed her “The Galloping Nurse”.

She went on to win Badminton again, and Burghley, and eventually to judge at both events. She has officiated as a technical delegate and British Eventing steward at many more, and has chaired the eventing selectors and British Eventing.

Her family are synonymous with the very highest levels of equestrian sport. Two of her siblings, Jennie Loriston-Clarke and Michael Bullen, also represented Britain at Olympic level – and the breeding and promotion of British-bred sport horses.

Rupert said: “We were delighted to present Jane with BEMA’s lifetime achievement award. She is one of the wisest heads and true constants in the horse world, through the good times and the bad.

“The return of the BEMA awards lunch for the first time since 2019 was a huge success and a chance to bring so many people together to celebrate a spectacular year in equestrian sport.

“A huge thank you to all our sponsors and to Natasha Baker for being a superb host.”

Ros Canter, whose spectacular 2023 features individual and team European Eventing Championship gold medals – plus five-star victories at Badminton and Pau, was voted BEMA’s rider of the year. She was presented with the BEMA trophy and a bottle of Christmas vodka courtesy of The Oxton Liqueur Company.

Asked if next year is going to be even better, Ros said: “That’s the dream, isn’t it! But we are very much enjoying what’s happened this year so far. It’s been a great year. I’ve got my team at home and so many people to thank for it – I’m actually bringing them all here for a day out on Saturday to have a bit of a celebration, which will be lovely.”

Showjumper Jodie Hall McAteer received the Worshipful Company of Saddlers’ award for the best under-25 rider, as voted for by BEMA members. Jodie, 23, was crowned leading rider at the 2022 London International Horse Show, where her week was headed by finishing third in her debut World Cup class. Her impressive 2023 record features a CSI5* win in Rome, the Ommen CSI3* grand prix, and the Leading Showjumper of the Year title for her HOYS grand prix victory.

Jodie, 23, was presented with a bridle by Hugh Taylor, prime warden of the Saddlers’ Company, before she nipped off to compete in the Yeti Under-25 British Championship. She is also contesting the CSI5* classes at this week’s show.

“London is an amazing show, so I’m really excited for the weekend,” she said, adding that it was “unbelievable” to be leading rider here in 2022.

“I wasn’t expecting that last year; there’s a little bit of expectation this year now, so the pressure is on a bit. It’s a new task this week, a different day, so I’ve just got to get stuck in and do the best I can.

“I would just like to say thank you on behalf of the riders for all the work you guys do [in the media] to give us the platform to jump at shows like this. Thank you for your work as well, we appreciate it.”

Gabriella Blake, 30, who made a spectacular senior squad debut at the 2023 European Para Dressage Championships, was the winner of the para dressage rider of the year award, sponsored by Agria. Gabriella and Strong Beau claimed grade I individual and team bronze in Riesenbeck.

“I wasn’t expecting it, I just wanted to go out and ride a confident test as it was obviously mine and my horse’s first championship,” said Gabriella, who won both medals riding with a dislocated hip.

“To win a team and individual bronze was absolutely incredible. Paris is definitely my big aim – it’s been my dream since I was a little girl to get to a Paralympics.”

Robert Whitaker’s King George V victory at the Royal International Horse Show aboard the homebred Vermento, by his father John’s great stallion Argento, was voted BEMA moment of the year.

Hickstead had double reason to celebrate, with a photo taken by freelance journalist and photographer Tilly Berendt of Harriet Biddick and Silver Lift’s tack malfunction at the Speed Derby winning the inaugural Kit Houghton photo of the year award, sponsored by Fairfax & Favor.

Harriet and the 18-year-old gelding were targeting the record for the greatest number of wins in the class. But as they came to the treble of Hickstead planks after the Irish bank, Silver Lift’s bridle slipped over his head. They popped through the treble – the penultimate question on the Speed Derby course – but as the crowd started to roar them home, it became clear that the bridle had come off completely.

Tilly, who was working for Hickstead’s press office that week, captured the moment Harriet lifted her hands to the sky – complete with the bridle.

“We arranged that I would go out and take some emotional shots for the press office and I happened to be totally in the right place at the right time,” said Tilly.

“I just happened to be really lucky to be outside the press office with a 300mm lens and got her reaction. I mean, gosh, she played it well. She jumped the treble beautifully and just laughed her way to the in-gate!”

Hickstead director Lizzie Bunn said: “We are delighted that Robert Whitaker and Vermento’s win in the King George V Gold Cup has been recognised by BEMA members as the moment of the year.

“Robert produced the only clear round of the competition to win in definitive style, giving us the first British winner of this grand prix since 2013. Even more special, Robert’s winning ride was bred by his father John, who had been part of the winning Nations Cup team at Hickstead just two days previously, making it an extraordinary show for the Brits.”

She added: “Hickstead’s Derby classes are known for producing thrills and spills, but few could have predicted what happened in this year’s British Speed Derby.

“Reigning champion Harriet Biddick had to miss out on retaining her title when her horse Silver Lift’s bridle fell off at the penultimate combination, but Harriet showed remarkable cool-headedness to jump through the tricky treble of Hickstead planks, before cantering straight past the final fence due to her lack of steering.

“Her expression perfectly reflected how we were all feeling – a mixture of shock, disappointment, relief and amazement – and this is perfectly encapsulated in Tilly’s winning image. It’s a photo that shows all the drama and emotion of our sport, and we think Tilly is a very worthy winner of this inaugural competition.”

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The longstanding eventing supporter Tim Holderness-Roddam died suddenly on 15 April, aged 78.

Tim was a passionate and knowledgeable advocate of eventing for many years and gave his time freely to support, advise and promote the sport; including roles with British Eventing (BE), British Equestrian (BEF), the Horse Trials Support Group and Blenheim and Burghley horse trials.

In 2010 Tim was presented with a BEF medal of honour in recognition of his outstanding achievement and contribution to the international equestrian world.

Tim was educated at Radley College, followed by military service in the King’s Royal Hussars. His successful 30-year career at Tate & Lyle plc (UM Group) culminated in the role of managing director of United Molasses Group, where he was responsible for the worldwide trading, storage and distribution business.

Since retiring from the City in 2000, Tim held a number of consultancy and non-executive roles including senior consultant to Bristol Port Company, which handles much of the import/export trade for the west of England; and a consultant to and former director of Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury and tailor-made travel business.

Tim was formerly a trustee of the pension fund of Countrywide Farmers plc and deputy chair. He was chair of the BEF Fund, Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, the Horse Trials Support Group, director and chair of the BE finance committee, and deputy chair of Friends of Conservation, an international charity operating mainly in Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

More recently he was a BEF director, member of the BE finance & commercial committee, and a member of the Burghley Horse Trials committee.

Tim was married to equestrian Olympic gold medallist and current BE president Jane Holderness-Roddam. Together they owned West Kington Farms and Stud in Wiltshire, specialising in breeding top competition horses.

British Equestrian chairman Malcolm Wharton said the organisation extends its “sincere condolences” to Tim’s family.

“Tim was a pillar of strength in the equestrian community, and we are truly grateful for the time he selflessly dedicated to a number of roles over many years. His vision, knowledge and financial acumen provided guidance to so many and we’ll miss him as a valued colleague,” he said

Horse & Hound magazine, out every Thursday, is packed with all the latest news and reports, as well as interviews, specials, nostalgia, vet and training advice. Find how you can enjoy the magazine delivered to your door every week, plus options to upgrade to access our H&H Plus online service which brings you breaking news as it happens as well as other benefits.

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The rider who captured hearts as “the galloping nurse” and was the first woman ever to ride on a British Olympic eventing team has enjoyed a stellar and diverse career in horses, discovers Lucy Higginson

Many horse lovers know Jane Holderness-Roddam’s name without quite knowing why. In recent years she has appeared in various guises: as a technical delegate; the owner of West Kington Stud; a lady-in-waiting to the Princess Royal; an ambassador and fundraiser for the Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) and Brooke; and a long-time chair of British Eventing. But she was also a top rider, winning Badminton twice, Burghley once, and gold as a member of Britain’s victorious Olympic eventing team in Mexico City, 1968.

Born fifth of six children in the extraordinary Bullen family – her mother Anne was an artist who bred and produced show and riding ponies, and father Jack was a former cavalry officer – Jane was always destined to ride.

Jane’s elder sister Jennie (Loriston-Clarke) dominated British dressage for years and contested five Olympics; her brother Mike evented at two Games, while her younger sister Sarah became a successful actress.

“The Bullens are all very talented,” attests Clarissa Bleekman (née Strachan), a team-mate in the 1970s. “They’ve all been very focused and successful.”

Jane was riding by the age of three, “side-saddle, because Mum got fed up with me going over the ears”, she smiles. So began a happy horsey childhood packed with hunting, hunter trials and Pony Club events with the Cattistock branch, plus – with her siblings Charlie, Jennie and Sarah – a great deal of showing. The photo archives of Royal Windsor Horse Show are crammed with photos of the Bullen girls collecting just about every trophy on offer.

One pony Jane remembers especially fondly is the 12.2hh grey Coed Coch Pryderi, owned by a show enthusiast, Miss Stubbings: “I rode him for years in pony and side-saddle classes, pairs classes and so on.”

“Jane was a natural rider as a child,” says her sister Jennie. “She had a lovely seat and good balance, and was always brave.”

Jane always knew she would not follow Jennie into dressage: “I wasn’t much good at it, and just liked jumping…”

But she hardly imagined the “little weedy thing” that arrived one day at her parents’ home with a farmer offering “the ’oss” for sale would catapult her into the sport’s record books. Having failed to live up to his pedigree in racing, the diminutive Our Nobby was purchased for £120, aged five, and promptly gave half the yard ringworm.

The Bullens began the process of retraining him and fattening him up.

“I realise now how long that takes both physically and mentally,” says Jane. “It may be that we overdid it a bit because he became terribly nappy – he once took [brother] Mike backwards over some 4ft 6in rails to get back to his stable. Consequently, we couldn’t really sell him, and he became my Pony Club mount, not with any great expectations.”

The Bullens moved from Dorset to Didmarton, near Badminton, and Jane joined the Beaufort Pony Club branch at a glorious time in its history, riding in teams alongside a young Mark Phillips, Mike Tucker and other great names. Though Nobby’s size seemed to shrink or expand a little according to his competitive goals, by 1964 he had won the individual Pony Club Championship eventing title.

“He was a flying machine over fences,” remembers Jennie. “He’d pull like a train and was tiny, but had the most amazing spring.”

Clearly an intuitive and enterprising horsewoman and teacher, Anne Bullen always had an open door for visiting trainers and riders, conscripting them to give what she called “light and heat courses” – clinics whose profits helped power the family home each winter. Jane learnt from them all, plus a good deal from Australia’s Bill Roycroft who stayed with the Bullens while preparing for Badminton: “He taught me a lot about sitting up in front of fences, the importance of rhythm, how to jump open water and about fitness.”

Our Nobby also became a focus for Jane through a very sad period in her life when her mother died of cancer, aged just 51, followed two years later by her father. By the age of 18, she had lost them both.

“The horses were a blessing,” confirms Jane. “I remember going for a ride on Nobby when my mother died – I’ve always found it helpful at times like that.”

A good Pony Club horse

In that era, without junior or young rider teams, it wasn’t uncommon for a good Pony Club horse to take you quickly on to much bigger things. Nobby did his first mainstream event with Jennie at Chatsworth – “quite a brave thing to do, with its hills, and Nobby so downhill and on his forehand”, reflects Jane, who then embarked on her first year of affiliated eventing with him.

After leaving school at 16, Jane followed in her mother’s footsteps into nursing, at the Middlesex Hospital. Elder sister Jennie married and moved to the New Forest, where Jane would return as often as possible to ride Nobby.

In 1967, Jane and Nobby tackled their first Badminton, coming fifth despite a run-out at Huntsman’s Close. The following year, with the Olympics looming, they won. “It was the right year to win!” reflects Jane.

Incredibly, by today’s standards, and given the stamina-sapping long format of the time, the final trial was Burghley, just a month before the Games.

“We were told to go slowly,” says Jane, “something Nobby just couldn’t do. He completely blew his top in the dressage, despite everyone’s help, then ended up third after galloping his way around the course.”

Jane was duly selected for Mexico, aged just 20, alongside Major Derek Allhusen, Richard Meade and Sgt Ben Jones. She was the first woman to event for Britain at the Olympics, and was branded “the galloping nurse” by the press. Mike Bullen flew Nobby out through his transport firm Peden’s, and Jennie accompanied Jane as her groom, the two young women attracting much media attention in their chic Hardy Amies Olympic uniforms.

The path to team gold was eventful. After producing one of his best dressage tests, Nobby nearly gave Jane the slip on phase C’s roads and tracks.

“In those days, we used to run parts of phase C [to save the horses’ energy] and Jane slipped, fell over and caught Nobby by his tail,” remembers Mark Phillips, who was there as a reserve.

Later, it rained torrentially so that water fences were completely submerged. The ground became saturated and little Our Nobby fell twice, Jane remounting to complete.

“I actually cracked two vertebrae in my back and was pretty stiff, though not as stiff as poor little Our Nobby… It wasn’t gutsy at all, it’s just what everybody did back then, completing at all costs,” insists Jane. “Now there is more emphasis on the welfare of the horse, which has to be good – and making sure the rider is all right!”

“I always remember Richard saying that behind that very gentle exterior was a steely grit,” remembers Richard Meade’s widow, Angela. “And I think there was…”

Although Jane’s was the discard score, the memory of that medal ceremony is an abiding one for her, and she retired Nobby from top competition soon afterwards to enjoy a lower key life educating younger riders: “I felt he’d done enough – he gave his all really.”

Humid conditions

Other rides followed but nothing capable of winning at the top level until an American friend of Mike Bullen, Suzie Howard, decided to buy Jane a good horse, Warrior, from John Shedden, who had won the first-ever Badminton.

“He was a very intelligent horse, always one jump ahead,” says Jane. “He really taught me how to ride because you had to just get it right. John said I’d never do any good unless I rode him in a gag, and actually he was right. Though a lovely looking horse, he was quite downhill, but he’d carry himself in a gag, as long as you rode him on a fairly loose rein.”

Lucinda Green rode him for a while before Jane, and remembers: “He was a good but not a brilliant horse, so she got some super performances from him. Jane had a fantastic relationship with him and sorted out his balance.”

Jane was riding Warrior by day and nursing by night in Lymington hospital, and the pair climbed the ranks. When she married businessman Tim Holderness-Roddam in 1974 and moved to London, she moved Warrior to trainer Dick Stilwell’s Berkshire yard.

In the mid-1970s they excelled, winning Burghley in 1976, team gold at the Europeans there the following year, and then Badminton in 1978. It is a pity that Warrior’s last championship should have come later that year at the disastrous Worlds in Lexington in extremely humid conditions.

“It was so airless you could hardly breathe,” Jane recalls, and it bottomed out the British horses, the team failing to complete. Warrior finally “turned to jelly” at the notorious serpent fence…

“It was horrible to see the horses that night in the stables,” Jane remembers. “Every horse was lying down apart from six that were on drips.”

The experience knocked the stuffing out of Warrior, but Jane revived his enthusiasm for life with tactics surely inherited from her mother, who taught ponies all kinds of circus tricks. “I took him to a tiny little hunter trial, and took a rosette which I pinned to his bridle when he had finished,” Jane recounts. “It helped turn him around.”

The pair contested their final Badminton the following year, and were third at Burghley in 1980.

On-screen appearances

Besides her nursing and competing, Jane also made some on-screen appearances. Those who remember International Velvet actually watched Jane and Warrior storming over fences as doubles for Tatum O’Neal and Arizona Pie. They also featured in a TV documentary, The Great Event, with Chris Collins, about preparing for Burghley.

“They strapped a camera on to me to capture my facial expression one day, but it made such a noise my horse panicked and galloped off,” remembers Jane, who duly fell off. “I remember feeling very bruised and battered, but the crew were only worried about their £4,000 camera…”

Although parenthood eluded Jane and Tim, they have been surrounded by new life at the stud they founded at Church Farm, their beautiful home of over 30 years at West Kington, Wilts, which has a loyal following from mare and stallion owners who value the personal and professional care there.

Jane may have stopped nursing after her marriage, but life continued at a gallop, including some fascinating trips overseas as a lady-in-waiting to the Princess Royal, running the London Marathon for the Fortune Centre, and doing a tandem skydive to raise thousands of pounds for the RDA. She even returned to eventing in a BE100 class in 2015 at West Wilts to raise money for the Brooke and World Horse Welfare charities – typically, turning in a double jumping clear.

Jane has devoted huge energy to her many roles in equestrianism, her chairmanship of British Eventing coming at a particularly challenging time, through a series of deaths in the sport and the onset of foot-and-mouth. She seems no less busy, now, in her seventies, juggling the stud with FEI judging, horse trials stewarding, chairmanship of the Caspian Horse Society and more.

It is typical of Jane to downplay her ability and courage, but she rightly deserves her place among the greats of eventing. “She was a very good all-round event rider, one of the best of them for a long period,” says her former team-mate Chris Collins, later chairman of Aintree Racecourse. “She’s a fine person and has conducted herself faultlessly throughout her life.”

“I have huge, huge respect for her,” adds Lucinda Green, who also appreciated the way she “put me in my place, without being unkind or rude, when I was a selector. She’d say, ‘Just put the gag on, Lucinda, and use a bit of lower rein…’”

The last word, aptly, goes to her sister Jennie: “We call her ‘the saint’ because she’s so good… but she’s much more steely than she looks.”

Jane on Our Nobby

“Nobby” was by Bewildered, a thoroughbred later exported to South Africa, out of Lady Sicily, and was not even 15hh. He joined the Bullens aged five, after an undistinguished racing career. Obstinate, and initially nappy, he took Jane from Pony Club right through to the Olympic podium, and became a bold, fast cross-country horse who was able to improve greatly on his dressage score.

After Nobby won a 14.2hh working hunter pony class once, “someone objected about his height”, smiles Jane. “We had to get him under 14.2hh which wasn’t that difficult – he was a terrible weaver and would weave himself down quite easily.”

To go to the Olympics, however, he had to be 15hh, “So we had to make him bigger again! A couple of vets wouldn’t do it but a Berkeley vet came for a good lunch and stiff drink. With lots of clattering and banging we got him to stand up just enough to hit the 15hh marker…”

Jane retired Nobby from top competition after Mexico to continue doing lower key, fun activities, such as hunter trials, and being a schoolmaster for younger riders. He lived until the grand age of 27.

Jane on Warrior

Bought by American Suzie Howard for Jane from John Shedden, who won the first-ever Badminton Horse Trials, Warrior was Irish-bred, out of Winslade and by Warwick.

“Suzie was very kind and wanted me to have a good horse. He cost £6,000 which seemed an awful lot then, and we had a lot of fun with him,” says Jane.

Together they were victorious at Badminton and Burghley, and also won European team gold. He spent his later years at Church Farm and died in his twenties.

Jane’s career milestones

1964 – Lands the Pony Club individual eventing championship for the Beaufort Hunt branch, riding Our Nobby

1968 – Wins Badminton with Our Nobby. Rides at the Mexico Olympics with Our Nobby. Takes home team gold.

1976 – Wins Burghley on Warrior

1977 – Competes at the European Championships at Burghley for Britain, taking team gold on Warrior. Her team-mates are Lucinda Prior-Palmer on George, Chris Collins on Smokey VI and Clarissa Strachan on Merry Sovereign. Lucinda also wins the individual title, and Jane is fourth.

1978 – Wins Badminton on Warrior. Competes at the World Championships in Kentucky, USA. Jane is a member of the British team alongside Chris Collins, Jane Starkey on Topper Too, and Richard Meade on Bleak Hills. Unfortunately, they suffered horribly with the high humidity, and the team did not finish.

1980 – Jane takes third place at Burghley riding Warrior, after which he is retired from three-day events.

Ref Horse & Hound; 10 September 2020

Jane (née Bullen) won Badminton in 1968 and 1978 and Burghley in 1976, and was the first woman to compete for Britain in three-day eventing at the Olympics, winning gold in Mexico in 1968. She is a renowned trainer, judge and author, former chair of British Eventing and the Riding for the Disabled Association and runs West Kington Stud with her husband Tim.

I used to think there was one way of riding and all horses should fit in with that, but over time, I realised every horse needs treating as an individual and what works with one may not necessarily work for another. You have to get into a horse’s brain.

Warrior, who won both Badminton and Burghley, taught me an awful lot. He was very intelligent – much more so than me – and I had to learn to get the best from him. He wouldn’t go properly unless I rode him appropriately for his character.

I was working as a nurse at that time and I also had to learn how to get the best out of my patients and colleagues. It’s how you treat others which is important with both horses and people – you have to coax and ask, not tell.

It’s always been my ethos to train horses little and often – less is best. You should never do too much and keep repeating something. If it’s done well a couple of times, leave it at that. You can always come back to it and it’s a shame to overdo it.

On the horse management side, my family used to feed bran every day. Although that has largely died out now that mixes and complete feeds are available, I still give horses a bran mash once a week, the night before their day off. It helps to keep them fit and well and although it’s not fashionable now, I’ve never seen a need to change it.

I think people often overfeed horses and don’t feed according to a horse’s work.

Coping with life

My parents sadly died while I was still in my teens, but I remember them advising me to live by Rudyard Kipling’s poem If, with its lessons about treating triumph and disaster with equanimity. This has helped me to cope with the ups and downs of life, horsey and otherwise.

I was brought up to think there was no point doing a lot of work on a horse if you weren’t strong enough to do him justice, so I always had a jolly good breakfast on a competition day – if there was time and I was organised, I’d have a cooked breakfast, but otherwise a bowl of cereal and some fruit.

My sister Jennie (Loriston-Clarke) has always been my riding icon – I found her inspirational to watch. From a cross-country point of view, I looked up to Lorna Clarke (née Sutherland) – she could make a donkey get round Badminton and had an extraordinary ability to be in sync with horses and leave them alone to do their best.

I wish I’d had Our Nobby later in my career, the little horse who I rode from Pony Club to the Olympics. If I’d known then all the things I know now, we would have been more successful, particularly if I’d been more patient in the dressage. I would try now to coax the best from him, whereas then I didn’t like dressage – I thought, “Oh, my sister does that” – and I just wanted to do the fun bits.

Had I tried to be a more skilled all-round rider, I could have done so much better with him.

Ref Horse & Hound; 9 July 2020

Eventing legend Jane Holderness-Roddam has called on the equestrian world to promote and remember balance and feel as the lynchpins of good riding.

The two-time Badminton winner said that while times have changed, with health and safety creating all manner of challenges for instructors, the industry must remember that helping riders develop balance and feel are crucial for safe riding.

“We do have to be careful and we have to think much more so than we used to,” she said, admitting that “health and safety” is one of the biggest barriers to helping people learn to ride well.

“Where do we draw the line?” said Mrs Holderness-Roddam. “I think we have to think about what we, as riders, trainers and people that have influence in the horse world, do about it.

“The independent seat and balance is so important, so the hand at the end of the reins can be the last resort, simply there to collect and balance your horse very lightly, but not to be the be-all and end-all.”

She added that riding bareback as a child, taking on jumping lanes blindfolded and enjoying hacking across all sorts of terrain were part of how she developed feel and balance.

Mrs Holderness-Roddam, who was speaking at the Worshipful Company of Loriners’ conference at Cheltenham racecourse on 6 November, said these are skills that cannot be directly taught, but that instructors can give guidance and exercises to help their pupils develop it for themselves.

“To me an independent seat means an independence from the reins, that you are not pulling on the reins and are in the right place for specific disciplines,” she explained.

“It is also adapting your position to suit physiological movements of your horse. You have to be in balance — that depends very much on your shape. The horse’s size and shape, all of that is an way of affecting balance.

“I think we all need to develop balance by developing feel — that is one of those terms that is very difficult to define, we should feel when we are in the right balance.”

Mrs Holderness-Roddam said movements such as round-the-world — providing someone is holding on to the pony – and exercises such as using an exercise ball, yoga, Pilates and the Alexander technique can all help, especially for those who cannot ride every day.

“Keep getting your children all doing as many things like mounted games, sponsored rides, hunting, all those things that we did when we were young,” she said, adding that with health and safety, insurance and liability at the forefront of people’s minds now, teaching riding is very challenging.

“We do have to be careful and we have to think much more so than we used to,” she said, and ‘health and safety’ is one of the biggest restrictions to getting people riding well,” she said.

“For me the best training is riding out in the country, cantering up and down hills, riding through woods, where you learn those things naturally. You cannot force balance: it has to come naturally.”

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Mrs Holderness-Roddam and fellow speaker Mark Smith, who is often referred to as“the bitless man” both agreed more lunge lessons are needed.

“We need to just try and get across to our riders that they really do need to be soft with their hand,” she added.

“Lunge lessons are sadly missing now, we don’t do nearly enough of those. They teach everybody everything about balance and they should be teaching you about feel.”

Mr Smith added: “If all riders spend more time on the lunge, their balance would improve and they wouldn’t be balancing on the horse’s mouth.”

Mr Smith, a former international eventer and founder of the “Bitless Not Brainless” open team chasing squad, works with riders to emphasise correct body-weight position and leg use to avoid them inadvertently giving the horse contradictory signals.

“I have never advocated all riders go bitless — it is all about techniques,” he said, adding he is rather the “soft hands man”.

“It may well be that the competitive riders that ride with a bit would find that a couple of sessions bitless would make them more aware of what they can achieve with their bodies and legs as a focus, rather than their hands.

“Holding your horse cross-country has to be technique in the same way that dressage is.

“There is not a bit in the world that hurts the horse — it is the idiot on the end of the reins.”

Don’t miss next Thursday’s issue of Horse & Hound — out 15 November — for a full report from the conference.

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The 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. The Games were hosted from 12-27 October and to mark the occasion, we bring you some pictures from the archive, documenting Great Britain’s huge success in the eventing competition, where they won team gold and individual silver.

The Games proved notoriously difficult for eventing competitors — the cross-country course was some 1,800m above sea level and the site was known for high levels of rainfall between October and March.

61% of riders managed to complete Mario Becerril’s course before heavy rain fell. Although it lasted only 30 minutes, the penultimate fence, a 2m wide stream, became 12m in width and flooded the entire take off point for the horses.

The British team of Major Derek Allhusen (Lochinvar), Reuben Jones (The Poacher), Richard Meade (Cornishman) and Jane Bullen (Our Nobby) won team gold over the second-placed United States and bronze medal winners, Australia. Major Allhusen also scooped the individual silver medal.

Let’s take a nostalgic look back at the efforts put in by the British team to bring those eventing medals home…

1. Jane Holderness-Roddam (née Bullen) with her sister Jenny, who went as Jane’s groom, in Mexico

2. One combination battles the elements on the cross-country course

3. Jane, who was the first woman on a British Olympic team, showjumps Our Nobby on the final day of competition

4. The British team stand proud on the podium, with the USA in second and Australia in third

5. Major Derek Allhusen shows off his team gold medal and his own individual silver medal, on arrival at Heathrow Airport.

6. Staff-Sergeant Ben Jones, who was on the gold medal-winning team, on his return at Heathrow Airport, with a guitar and sombrero, souvenirs he brought back from his trip to Mexico

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Things were a little different at Badminton in 1968: spectators were smartly dressed in ties, riders went cross-country in low key-looking sweaters and Prince Philip watched on from the bonnet of his car

Where was it?

Badminton Horse Trials, Gloucestershire, May 1968

What happened?

This was the 19th running of Badminton Horse Trials — having first been run in 1949, when the 10th Duke of Beaufort had the idea of using his Gloucestershire home to host an event so that British riders could train for future international events.

Amongst the smartly-clad spectators in 1968 was The Queen, with her husband Prince Philip watching on from the bonnet of a Land Rover — seemingly sans security.

This was a time before frangible pins or even body protectors, as the brave horses and riders took on the challenging course.

And the winning combination in 1968 was a little unexpected: the pint sized Our Nobby, who stood at just 14.3 ½hh, with his 20-year-old rider Jane Bullen (Holderness-Roddam).

Badminton final scores

“Nearing the finish of the rugged trials one name was emerging ahead and clear of the rest: it was Jane Bullen on Our Nobby. The 20-year-old part-time rider and student nurse had upset the form book and won the event,” said the commentator. “The gallant Our Nobby was the smallest horse in the contest. The crowd has seen a great victory by a new Olympic hope.”

Indeed, Jane went on to help the British team to a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics that year — becoming the first British woman to win a medal in the sport.

The story is all the more remarkable when you consider that Jane’s mother had bought the pony for £120 with the hope that they could sell him on quite easily, but instead he developed a napping habit and so never left.

His glittering Olympic career began by winning the junior Pony Club Championships — a career progression that’s almost unfathomable in today’s horse sport.

Don’t miss the full report from this year’s Badminton Horse Trials in the 10 May issue of Horse & Hound magazine

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Eventing legend Jane Holderness-Roddam came out of retirement yesterday (Tuesday, 18 August) to compete for charity.

The Olympic gold medallist rode in her first one-day-event for 13 years on former four-star eventer Tiger’s Eye II at British Eventing’s (BE) West Wilts fixture.

The pair jumped double clear in the BE100open, adding 12.8 cross-country time faults to their leading dressage score of 23.8.

They finished in 17th place.

“It was great,” Jane told H&H. “Bill just loved it – he thought he was at Badminton.

“It was such a lovely atmosphere.”

Last year, she travelled to Senegal with the Brooke to see the work the charity does first-hand.

She said it was amazing what difference small changes, such as providing fly-fringes and making sure tack and bits were correctly fitted, made to the lives of the horses.

“This money will make a big difference,” she said. “A little goes a very long way out there.”

Jane was competing in aid of equine charities the Brooke and World Horse Welfare.

The total raised on her Virgin money giving page has passed £7,700.

“Horses have been a part of my life since childhood,” she said.

“I can’t think of a better way to give something back to these wonderful animals than by supporting two charities that I am so proud to be involved with.”

Jane is a trustee for the Brooke and was a trustee for World Horse Welfare for many years.

World Horse Welfare’s Tony Tyler said: “Jane is already renowned for her many extraordinary contributions to the horse world.

“But yesterday she exceeded herself to demonstrate her support for improving horse welfare in the UK and globally.”

Jane won Badminton twice, in 1968 and 1978, and Burghley in 1976.

She was the first woman to represent Great Britain in eventing at Olympic level and won team gold in Mexico in 1968.

Tiger’s Eye II, known as Bill, is a 20-year-old gelding who has competed at 30 international events, including four CCI4*s.

Goldeneye Video and Photography recorded Jane taking part in all three phases (below).

“We cheered on Jane and her veteran horse Tiger’s Eye II throughout their impressive performance which showed that they both still have what it takes to take on the competition,” Mr Tyler added.

“We are immensely grateful to Jane and Bill for taking on this challenge for World Horse Welfare and the Brooke, and to all who so generously donated in support.”

Petra Ingram, chief executive of the Brooke, said the money raised will mean they can help even more working horses, donkeys and mules as well as benefiting the lives of those who depend on them.

“I was honoured to watch Jane participate in this event, she is a truly inspirational lady,” she said.

“Together with Bill they made it look easy and her love for horses was so evident as she guided him through each phase.”

The event was also the 50th BE fixture held by Pete Collins and his team at the equestrian centre near Holt in Wiltshire since it began in 1997.

Click here to donate.

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Olympic medallist Jane Holderness-Roddam is set to return to eventing for charity.

Jane, who is now 67 years old, will compete in her first one-day event for 13 years on former four-star eventer Tiger’s Eye II.

The event, at West Wilts Equestrian Centre on 18 August, is in aid of equine charities the Brooke and World Horse Welfare.

They will be competing in the BE100open.

Jane was the first woman to represent Great Britain in eventing at Olympic level and won team gold in Mexico in 1968.

She also won Badminton twice, in 1968 and 1978, and Burghley in 1976.

Tiger’s Eye II, known as Bill, is a 20-year-old gelding with 310 British Eventing points.

By Java Tiger, he has competed at 30 international events, including four CCI4*s.

“Horses have been a part of my life since childhood, and caring for them properly is really important to me,” said Jane.

“Bill is still able to compete at the age of 20 in part because of the excellent care he has had from a dedicated team.

“Sadly, some equine animals working around the world are lucky to reach a quarter of his age. I want to help change that.”

Jane is a trustee for both World Horse Welfare and the Brooke.

In 2014, she travelled to Senegal to see the Brooke teams at work.

Petra Ingram, the charity’s chief executive, said: “We are so incredibly grateful that she has decided to go the extra mile, or should I say extra jump, for the Brooke and World Horse Welfare.

“The money raised will help us reach our target of helping two million horses, donkeys and mules by 2016.”

World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers added that Jane had played a “pivotal role” in the charity’s work.

“I wish her the very best of luck with the event and I, along with all at World Horse Welfare, will be cheering her on,” he said.

Click here to sponsor Jane.

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Four famous names have become the latest stars of the horse world to become inducted into the prestigious British Horse Society (BHS) hall of fame.

Olympic gold medal winners Valegro and Big Star represented the equine heroes, while William Funnell and Jane Holderness-Roddam were selected as riders.

Jane joins her sister, Jennie Loriston-Clarke in the hall of fame, while William joins his wife Pippa — making them the first husband and wife team to be recognised.

“It’s a tremendous honour,” said Jane, who was the first British woman to compete in eventing at an Olympics, at Mexico in 1968.

“Really it’s not just for me, it’s for all the people and horses along the way that have helped me to get where I am today. It’s a great feeling to see my plaque up there on the wall with all those superstars.”

William added: “When you see all the great names that are on the wall, to be up there with them feels very special.”

Carl Hester said the equestrian world is “so lucky” to have a celebration of talent such as this.

“Valegro has been such a massive part of the success of British dressage that this recognition is not just for us, but for everyone that’s supported him and seen him go from strength to strength,” he added.

Valegro’s owner Roly Luard said she was “very, very proud of the horse, very proud of the rider and very proud of the trainer.

“We feel so lucky and privileged to be here on this fantastic day, I won’t forget this ever,” she said.

Big Star’s owners Beverley and Gary Widdowson added: “We are honoured to be here, Big Star has done us proud. We are very privileged to own a horse like him – his name certainly befits him!”

The BHS Hall of Fame celebrates the heroes and heroines — human and equine — of the equestrian world.

A ceremony was held last week (1 December) at the Household Cavalry’s Knightsbridge barracks.

> Members of the public may cast their vote to nominate equestrians and horses as laureates. Email: halloffame@bhs.org.uk

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Thistledown Poposki, who finished 18th at the Mitusibishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this year (above), has sired a foal via frozen semen. The semen was collected before he was cut as a 2-year-old.

The dark bay filly (below) was born last week.

Thistledown Poposki, by the National Hunt sire Petoski, was bred by his owner, Lady Anne Whiteley, widow of 1967 European individual silver medallist Martin Whiteley.

He is ridden by her niece, Izzy Taylor, who is currently having a run of excellent form and is a favourite for the British eventing squad for the World Equestrian Games.

“Anne Whiteley approached me and asked if we had a suitable mare to breed a foal from using Thistledown Poposki’s semen,” explained Jane Holderness-Roddam, owner of West Kington Stud and a former Olympic eventing team gold medallist and double Badminton winner.

Jane suggested Bluebell, a Windsor Heights mare who has competed at novice level in affiliated dressage and been placed at BE100 eventing. This is her 2nd foal — her first, another filly who is now 3 years old, is by Woodlander Rockstar.

“This foal is likely to be a one-off because Thistledown Poposki’s semen is not of the greatest quality as it was quite immature,” added Jane.

The new filly has not yet been named as Jane is waiting for Lady Anne Whiteley and Izzy to see her.

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Hundreds of paintings and drawings by Anne Bullen – illustrator of best-selling pony books and founder of Catherston Stud – are to go on display, after being rediscovered by one of her daughters.

Olympic dressage rider Jennie Loriston-Clarke found the cache, of more than 400 pictures, in an old desk she had inherited from her parents.

“They are so lifelike,” Jennie told H&H. “She seems to get the movements so beautifully, and she knew the anatomy so well.”

Mrs Bullen was a prolific equestrian artist, illustrating books by Monica Dickens and the Pullein-Thompson sisters. Her output was all the more remarkable, given that, alongside her breeding and showing work, she was also the mother of six children.

Jane (now Holderness-Roddam) and Michael Bullen also represented Britain at the Olympics.

“She would go out and draw somebody’s horse, then overnight, it would become an oil painting,” said Jennie.

“I don’t think she slept much.”

Some of the pictures will be for sale, but some particularly precious works will be reproduced as photographs for the exhibition.

“There is the front cover of [her book] Ponycraft, which is actually a picture of me on Royal Show, a very good pony of his day, who won at the Royal International,” said Jennie.

“It was sold to an American who bought a lot of our ponies, but eventually her great-niece offered it to me,” said Jennie.”It’s one that I’ll never sell.”

Anne Bullen’s pictures will be at the Osborne Studio Gallery, 2 Motcomb Street, London SW1, from 18 September-4 October.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (10 May 2012)

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Riders from across the UK and Ireland will join Jane Holderness-Roddam as official Olympic torchbearers for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Former Olympic eventer Jane – who won team gold in Mexico in 1968 – will carry the torch in Shurdington, Glos, on 23 May (news, 29 March).

Other equestrians carrying the torch include 56-year-old Peggy Douglas who will carry the flame through Brixton, Devon, on 20 May.

Peggy received the MBE last year for services to charity. She was the founder of Erm Valley RDA group 30 years ago.

Harry Humfrey, who represented Britain on the pony team at the FEI European Championships at Bishop Burton last year, will also carry the torch.

The 16-year-old has been chosen to carry the Olympic torch through Newport, Pembrokeshire, on 27 May.

73-year-old Mo Shearing – a Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) instructor on the Isle of Man for 40 years, will carry the flame on 2 June.

Twelve-year-old Darrell Harpur, a keen rider from Derry, who has twice taken part in the RDA national championships, will do the duty on 3 June.

Irish modern pentathlete and Greenwich hopeful Natalya Coyle will bear the torch in Dublin on 6 June.

And Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 27, of the Royal Horse Artillery, who lost both legs in Afghanistan in 2007, will carry the flame in Pontefract on 25 June.

Hannah Gallaher, 12, a member of the Puckeridge Hunt Western branch of the Pony Club, will be running with the torch in St Albans, Herts on Sunday 8 July.

Sister Mary Joy Langdon, founder of London’s Wormwood Scrubs Pony Centre, will carry it through Hounslow, West London, on 24 July.

Sister Mary Joy told H&H: “I feel very honoured and very excited.”

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (19 April 2012)

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British Eventing president and Olympic eventer Jane Holderness-Roddam is among equestrians chosen as an official Olympic Torchbearers for the London Games.

Jane will carry the torch through her local area of Shurdington, Glos, on 23 May.

She was the first woman to represent Britain in eventing at an Olympic Games when she and Our Nobby came home with team Gold from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.

Other riders carrying the flame include 12-year-old Darrell Harpur from Derry, Northern Ireland, who will do the duty on 3 June.

Darrell is a keen rider who has twice taken part in the Riding for the Disabled Association’s (RDA) national championships.

Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, of 7 Para, Royal Horse Artillery, who lost both legs in Afghanistan in 2007, will also carry the flame.

The 27-year-old will do the honours in Pontefract on 25 June

And 73-year-old Mo Shearing, who has been an RDA instructor on the Isle of Man for 40 years, will carry the flame on 2 June.

• Are you carrying the flame? Let us know below or email charlotte_white@ipcmedia.com

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Former Olympic event rider Jane Holderness-Roddam will be out of the saddle for nearly a year, following an operation to remodel one of her feet.

Mrs Holderness-Roddam, who runs West Kington Stud in north Wiltshire, told H&H her feet had “collapsed” due to “years of abuse”.

“It’s part arthritis, part poor conformation – and years of horses treading on them,” she said.

She will have an operation on her other foot next year.

“The doctors say I mustn’t ride for 10 months, but I’m hoping to halve that,” she added.

This news story was first published in the current issue of Horse & Hound (20 October, 2011)

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Former Olympic event rider Jane Holderness-Roddam has been elected as chairman of the British Equestrian Federation’s (BEF) managing council.

“I look forward to continuing the good work already achieved towards making the BEF one of the world’s outstanding equestrian federations,” said Mrs Holderness-Roddam.

“Since modernisation we have seen the BEF expand with considerable successes. I am thrilled to be taking on this position over a period which will see us hosting the greatest show on earth — the Olympic Games.”

Mrs Holderness-Roddam takes over from Linda Whetstone, the council’s first chair.

The role involves supporting the BEF’s 16 member bodies while working with the chief executive Andrew Finding and his team.

“The first five years following the modernisation of the BEF have been a challenging time but one during which communications and cooperation between the member bodies and the central organisation have improved significantly,” said Ms Whetstone.

“The next few years will undoubtedly produce different challenges, one of which will surely be pressure on the generous government funding that supports so many of the BEF projects.”

Mr Finding added: “We are immensely grateful for all the work Linda has undertaken over the past five years. In her leadership of the BEF Council, Linda has always encouraged debate and has made a huge contribution to the broader federation and its desire to work cohesively for the betterment of all. We are all better for it.”

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Former Olympic event rider Jane Holderness-Roddam is undertaking a new challenge — a tandem skydive to raise money for Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA).

“It sounds mad,” said 61-year-old Jane who will dive from a plane on 11 October.

Jane is aiming to raise £10,000 for the RDA before next spring when she retires as the association’s national chairman after nine years.

“The Riding for the Disabled Association is a wonderful charity that helps people with disabilities to ride or carriage drive to improve their health and wellbeing,” said Jane. “The funds raised by my skydive will be used to support the RDA’s 40th Anniversary Appeal.”

The RDA currently has around 500 groups across the UK, helping 24,000 riders, supported by some 18,000 volunteers.

Jane Holderness-Roddam was the first woman to ride on a British Olympic eventing team, winning team gold at the Mexico City Olympic Games in 1968 and twice winning Badminton. She now owns West Kington Stud in Wiltshire, is president of British Eventing and was this year awarded the British Horse Society (BHS) Queen’s Award for Equestrianism.

To sponsor Jane, visit www.justgiving.com/Jane-Holderness-Roddam

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Two new directors have joined the National Equine Database (NED) since the organisation was criticised over lack of studbook representation on the board.

Last month Jane Holderness-Roddam, owner of West Kington Stud, and Lynne Crowden, chairman of the lead body for British Sport Horses and Ponies, were asked to join the board.

In September, the NED appointed Corrina Duncan, who founded Equine AI,and Julia Hodkin who runs Future Sport Horses as directors.

But critics called the decision “inappropriate”, saying they could gain from “inside information” — a claim the NED disputed (news, 16 October 2008).

But NED spokesman Jan Rogers said the recent appointments by the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) were not in direct response to criticism.

“Corrina stepped down to have a baby and we felt Jane and Lynne’s skills complemented each other,” she said.

Ms Crowden, who is secretary of the Warmblood Breeders Studbook, said: “We have a lot of work to do to improve the pedigree data in the NED and I hope to be able to explain clearly and simply to British studbooks what this means and how by supplying data we can help breeders make better choices.”

Ms Holderness-Roddam is chairman of the Riding for the Disabled Association, president of British Eventing and an International Equestrian Federation (FEI) technical delegate.

The BEF hopes she will improve relations between the NED and horse owners.

Last October, John Shenfield, secretary of the British Hanoverian Horse Society, was critical about a lack of studbook representation at the NED.

Now he tells H&H: “It’s good to see the board being expanded.”

The NED contains information on over a million horses, ponies and donkeys and has details of every passport issued by a UK passport issuing organisation (PIO).

Visit www.nedonline.co.uk

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (6 August, ’09)

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Olympic eventer Jane Holderness-Roddam was presented with the British Horse Society’s (BHS) Queen’s Award for Equestrianism at Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The award, presented to Mrs Holderness-Roddam for outstanding services to equestrianism, was handed over by the Princess Royal on 14 May.

Mrs Holderness-Roddam was the first woman to ride on a British Olympic eventing team, winning team gold at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 and twice winning Badminton.

She devotes much of her time to the British horse industry, including serving as president of British Eventing, chairman of the Riding for the Disabled Association, president of the Fortune Centre of Riding Therapy and a trustee of World Horse Welfare.

And she has written 25 books about equestrianism.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now