Who needs a rider! Horse completes team chase solo after owner unshipped

What do you do when you lose your rider early on in a team chase? You keep going regardless, and cross the finish line solo feeling pretty proud of yourself.

That’s what Mo did, anyway, in the Cotswold Team Chase on 28 October, leaving his owner Emma Masters to video him finishing in style.

Emma told H&H her team for the day, the Fake McCoys, were ushered to the start before she was completely ready.

“I hadn’t realised we were about to go so I still had one glove and my phone in my hand, and I set off one-handed,” she said. “I managed to stuff my phone in my pocket but couldn’t get my other glove on, so I jumped the first fence one-handed too.

“He was going really nicely but at one jump, unfortunately the two horses in front of us hesitated a bit, he hesitated too and I wasn’t prepared, and I went over his shoulder. I could hear everyone shouting ‘Loose horse’, and I could see him still up there with the other three.”

Rescue came in the form of a man driving a quad bike, to collect Emma, who said he was on his walkie-talkie trying to decide where to take her.

“I said we might as well go back as I thought he’d finish it,” she said. “I got back in time to video him coming over the finish line without me. He stopped with the others, proud as punch that he’d managed to do it.”

Pictures and videos captured around the course, including by Emma’s boyfriend Greg Williams, show Mo tackling the jumps, including some of the intermediate options rather than the novice he was supposed to be doing, with style.

“He was quite happy going round with the others, having the time of his life!” Emma said. “Next time, I might just let him go at the start and he can do it without me.”

Emma has owned the 12-year-old gelding for five years, and described him as a “16.2hh mutt”, out of a Cleveland Bay mare, by a thoroughbred/Arab/Hanoverian stallion. The pair have had a quieter year in 2023 owing to a diagnosis of ulcers but Mo has since scoped clear so they are back in action, much to the delight of Mo’s 32,000 followers on Facebook.

“He’s like a big happy labrador; the nicest personality,” Emma said. “Everyone loves him.

“I was put in a last-minute team and I think they were just happy to finish, while we packed up and headed home. But Mo had absolutely flown round, he loved it!”

You might also be interested in:

Top rider’s ‘eventful’ weekend includes broken bit and incredible cross-country save

The rider praised his ‘very honest’ horse after the save, the video of which has been viewed more than 230,000

‘Identical’ twin event horses both win on the same day

Both six-year-olds finished on their dressage scores, just 0.2 penalties apart

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round

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 your subscription to access our online service that brings you breaking news and reports as well as other benefits.

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