‘A freak of nature, a tough little dude’: 15.2hh dun who cost £750 and jumped round Burghley twice put down
Piggy French (later March) on Done To Order at Burghley 2003.
(Image credit: Kit Houghton)
Done To Order, the chunky 15.2hh dun horse who jumped clear round Burghley Horse Trials twice with Piggy March, has been put down.
Owned by Libby Ellis throughout his career and retirement, Done To Order won Osberton CIC2* (now CCI3*-L) in 2002, finished sixth and third at Bramham Horse Trials in 2002 and 2004 and completed Burghley in 2003 and 2005, finishing 17th in 2005.
‘There was no fence too big for Done To Order’
Piggy started riding the horse in 2001.
She said: “When I first had him, I rang his old rider and said, ‘Are you sure I’m going to be ok going to an intermediate?’ At home, he hadn’t much engine and was pretty uninspired.
“But as soon as we were counted down from five at our first event, he was gone. He was in a snaffle and I didn’t have one say in the matter for the whole course. I’ve never been so terrified in my life. I was steering and hanging on and when I came through the finish, I said, ‘I need a gag!’
“There was no fence too big for the little chap. He would stand off outside the wings and ran on adrenaline. He taught me a lot and we went on a fabulous journey together to some great places, including Blenheim, Bramham and Saumur.
“He didn’t have a cross-country jumping fault either time at Burghley and that was in the roads and tracks and steeplechase days. He had a hindleg on him that was incredible and that’s where his quality came from. And he had an amazing heart.
“I remember getting places and people saying, ‘Your horse looks a bit fat’ or this or that, then he’d go bombing round and be one of only a few inside the time. He put you back in your box if you thought he wasn’t good enough.”
Libby decided to retire Murphy soon after his second Burghley.
“He’d done everything and more in eventing and I didn’t want anything to happen to him,” she said.
She describes him as a “real family pony”, who was ridden by her twin daughters Gabrielle and Nina on their occasional visits home, as well as by her.
“He was charming, quite spooky and full of himself sometimes, but never a slug and he never did anything naughty. Even my husband Robin, who doesn’t like horses, adored him and I could send him to catch him whereas with most horses he wouldn’t even try. Murphy was a real character and would talk to you all the time.”
Libby said Murphy was “terribly well right to the end” and still being ridden around the farm, until he had a problem getting up one day and injured his hind end “so the time had come”.
“He was a ‘dun to order’ and had a great following in his eventing days,” she said. “Only three horses showjumped clear in his second year at Burghley and when he did, the cheer that went up was amazing. Everybody loved him because he was the most unlikely horse.”
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