‘He went a happy horse’: goodbye to legendary Hickstead Derby winner aged 28 after golden retirement

Tributes have been paid to the showjumping legend Promised Land, who has been put down aged 28 after a long and happy retirement.

“Murphy” is known for winning the Hickstead Derby with Tina Fletcher in 2011, having come fourth in 2009 and second in 2010. But the combination also won the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) puissance, area trials and international stairway classes, and were placed in everything from speed classes to five-star grands prix.

“He was such a fabulous horse,” Tina told H&H. “He might have looked like a lunatic but he absolutely wasn’t; he was the kindest horse but no one ever fell off him. He was sharp but such a legend of a horse.”

Tina’s husband Graham competed Murphy up to 1.40m, then Tina took over the ride. She said it was Graham who thought he would be a Derby horse.

“I said no but he said he’d be a perfect Derby horse,” she said. “He always jumped water so high. He was an amazing water jumper but the Hickstead water is so big – and he was incredible over it. He was so brave and there was nothing he couldn’t jump.”

After their fourth place in 2009, Tina and Murphy jumped double clear in 2010 – often a first-round clear will secure the win but they were beaten in the jump-off by Guy Williams and Skip Two Ramiro.

“I grew up watching the Hickstead Derby and dreaming, thinking I’d love to do it one day,” Tina said. “That was the ultimate dream, because it was one of the biggest things in showjumping so to jump double clear and not win; you can’t imagine!

“The next year, the pressure was on me and I so wanted to win it. I was convinced someone else would jump clear so there was relief – and elation.”

Tina paid tribute to Murphy’s courage, adding: “You have to have care too but a Derby horse has to be super brave and powerful, and there was nothing he wouldn’t jump.

“He was a gorgeous person too. I remember when the boys were young, they’d spend ages in his stable, he was like a big labrador. You couldn’t get a kinder horse and he will always have a special place in my heart.”

Tina and Graham’s son William jumped Murphy to 1.35m level, after which he spent his last seven years with Jess Paramor. He and Jess enjoyed success including winning their Pony Club area championship, and qualifying for the national championships two years running, and Jess rode Murphy to her school prom.

Jess told H&H: “I don’t know if I would be here without him.

“My mental health has been atrocious; in and out of psychiatric wards, but he was always there when I came out and he loved me. I don’t know how I’d have managed these last years without him; he meant so much to me, I can’t put it into words. I will never, ever forget him.”

Jess loved Murphy from the start, when he was at a yard she worked at, then she took him on when he was 21. She said that although she had always had horses, she had never had one of his quality, and he took her to places she had never thought possible.

Jess was a teenager, and a “little stick of thing”, on the 17hh-plus Murphy who was “all legs”, so they took some time learning how each other worked.

“I’d never really showjumped, I was more an eventer, but my Pony Club showjumping coordinator saw me ride him and suggested we do the area competition,” Jess said. “Because of his British Showjumping points, I had to step up, which was terrifying!”

Jess felt the pressure of riding such a famous horse but the pair finished fourth to qualify for the national championships. Cholmondeley Castle, with its banners and facilities and atmosphere, “made me feel like I was about to ride at Badminton”, Jess said, and the course there was bigger by far than they had jumped before. She added that she had not realised the jumping would be on grass, so had no studs, and after a first-round clear, a slip from Murphy meant they felled a double in the second round.

But jumping so well at that level brought “tears of happiness” from Jess. They went on to jump at Hickstead in the Pony Club inter-branch competition – “We had to walk past the International arena and I could feel him thinking ‘I know this place; why are we going this way!’” Jess said.

The pair did not compete too often; Jess and Murphy also hacked and went cross-country schooling. Jess said he was a bit “perplexed” at having to go through rather than over the water but loved every minute, then they returned to the area qualifiers the next year – and won.

“I wasn’t very well with my mental health at the time and the horses were my only joy,” Jess said. “We went to the area competition and Mum said ‘Are you sure?’ because Murph was a bit spooky in the indoor warm-up, and it was really windy. I was a bag of nerves but he jumped a spectacular clear; I was so proud of him.”

The win meant they qualified for the nationals again, in 2019, but they were cancelled owing to bad weather. Jess was told her ticket would count for 2020 – but “then there was Covid!” Jess said.

By the time competition restarted, Promised Land of course had aged. Jess took him to one last show at Felbridge, where he jumped a “beautiful round”, and then called it a day.

“I thought ‘You don’t owe me anything, you’ve done so much for me, that’s it, Murph,” Jess said. “We took his shoes off and he became a yard pet.”

Murphy, who was variously nicknamed “the dinosaur” and the BFG, spent his full retirement pottering around, enjoying time in the field, and spending time with Jess and others.

“He would follow you round like a happy dog, nuzzle into you; he was such a happy boy,” Jess said. “For people who had never met horses or were worried about them, he’d be there and he was so big, but he was the gentlest horse I’d ever met. He was so kind, people wouldn’t be nervous about horses any more as they’d met Murphy. Everyone loved him, everyone fell for his charm; he was so loved, by so many people.”

Last winter, Jess said, Murphy was still happy, but showing his age. Jess spoke to Tina and they agreed he would “have a really nice summer, then go with dignity over the rainbow bridge”.

But on Monday (17 April) Murphy was lame, and the vet said his prognosis was not good.

“I called Tina and she spoke to the vet, and spoke to me,” Jess said. “She said ‘It’s your call. But he owes nothing to either of us’. We made the decision to say goodbye.

“It was really hard because he meant so much to many people but I stayed with him right till the end, giving him kisses and filling him full of carrots, and he went a happy horse.”

Jess said she has been in touch with the team at Hickstead, who said some of Murphy’s ashes could be scattered in the International Arena, possibly on Derby day this year, in fitting tribute to his achievements.

“The year he won was the first year I’d gone to watch it, aged 10,” Jess said. “If someone had said then he’d be mine one day, I’d never have believed it.

“I wouldn’t have changed anything for the world. I threw money at him in retirement to keep him comfortable in his last years, got into debt for him and I’d have spent more – and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The memories he gave me will be treasured for ever.”

A spokesman for Hickstead said: “Sleep well, Promised Land, and thank you for the memories.”

You might also be interested in:

What you didn’t know about… Promised Land

Showjumper Tina Fletcher tells H&H about her pony-shaking Hickstead Derby winner

‘The price you pay for loving them is losing them’: farewell to ‘extraordinary’ horse who made Hickstead Derby history

Tina Fletcher wins the Hickstead Derby with Promised Land

Tina went one better than last year to become the first lady rider to win the prestigious class since Alison

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