‘A fabulous lady and brilliant horsewoman’: farewell to former eventer and owner
The event rider and owner Shirley Thorp (née Clifford) died on 25 October, aged 89.
Born in September 1933, Mrs Thorp spent her early childhood in Ickenham, then Middlesex. She developed a life-long love of horses from an early age. When she and her sister had whooping cough and were confined to the house one summer, they were rewarded for their patience with a pony named Dimple.
The family later moved to Broomhills, Fleet, and she joined the Fleet sub-branch of the Garth Pony Club, enjoying hunting and gymkhanas. She left school to take up horses and in 1952 undertook a horsemanship course at Porlock Vale Riding School, under the tutelage of Tony Collings, and passed her teaching exams. In 1958 she became chief instructor at the Staff College Pony Club.
Having had dressage training from Robert Hall at the Fulmer School of Equitation in Buckinghamshire, she took up eventing and pointing. She retrained former point-to-pointer Second Son and in 1953 they won their first horse trials at Great Auclum, in Berkshire. In 1955 the pair competed at the European Championships at Windsor. She completed Badminton Horse Trials twice, in 1957 when she was 18th on Dispatch, and in 1967 when she was fourth with Mazaretta. She was also third at Little Badminton in 1961 with Dispatch.
In 1970 she married Gael Thorp and moved to Herefordshire. The couple had two children, Sam and James, who enjoyed competing with the Pony Club. Following the couple’s divorce in the early 1980s, Mrs Thorp moved to Stroud and she owned a number of racehorses and event horses, including Dawn Patrol, who completed Badminton with Erica Watson in 2000. She also owned a share in Modern Jazz, who competed at Boekelo with Erica in 2006.
“Shirley wanted me to ride Dawn Patrol and she wouldn’t take no as an answer and he turned up on the yard,” said Erica.
“She always came to events and was a very good owner for me for around 15 years. She was a fabulous lady, a brilliant horsewoman and fiercely independent. She made her mark in the horse world and her death is a sad loss for all of us.”
Mrs Thorp is survived by her sons Sam and James.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.