Coloured show cob Kilkenny Marble has died

Champion coloured cob Kilkenny Marble has died after a bout of colic. He was 24.

Owned by John and Sue Rawding, Marble was the first coloured cob to win at Horse of the Year Show in 1992 and 1993, where he was lightweight Cob of the Year on two occasions.

He was also hugely successful as a Working Cob, being Reserve Champion Cob and Champion Working Cob at the Royal International in 1993.

John and Sue bought Marble as a four-year-old after he had been imported from Ireland. Sue said: “He didn’t look much like a show cob then, he had a huge scar on his chest and had obviously been in the wars a bit”.

Sue always rode Marble in the showring, and describes him as a “bit of a character”.

“When you were working him in outside, he used to think he had done quite enough,” she said. “But he would come to life when he was in the ring — and more than rise to the occasion.”

Kilkenny Marble taught many young people to ride during his 20 years with John and Sue Rawding.

Sue added: “He had given us all a huge amount of pleasure and will be greatly missed.”

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