Frank Grunnill’s trademark bowler hat and bow tie are a familiar sight for riders worldwide. Frank has been coming to Horse of the Year Show for more than 50 years and is chief FEI steward at HOYS this year.
Name: Frank Grunnill
Age: old enough!
Lives: in Last of the Summer Wine country — Holmfirth, Yorkshire
HOYS job: chief FEI and show steward
Previous employment: I’m an FEI steward at many shows, but I was previously a mounted policeman
Dream job: I’d love to have been a gamekeeper. It’s working outdoors, there’s nature involved and I would have had the freedom and time to go fishing. Coarse and trout fishing is my hobby. I try to make time to go, but I don’t manage to sit by the water’s edge as much as I’d like nowadays
What’s on your iPod? If I had one it would have lots of classical music and there’s one singer I could listen to all day. Barbra Streisand is mega — she’s the girl for me!
Have you ever won at HOYS? I competed in the Police Horse of the Year classes for many years and never managed an individual win, although I did win the pairs and the turnout. I’ve lost count of the times I finished second individually
How has the show changed? I’m old enough to remember working in on a black ash surface at Wembley and here we are today. But it’s still the same old Horse of the Year Show
What classes do you enjoy best? the showjumping. I did a bit of jumping when I was in the mounted police, but nothing like the standard here
Dream ride: can I have two? The first is Milton, the original star showjumper. And of course there’s Big Star, the best horse in the world now. It would have been a privilege to sit on either of them
Don’t miss our full report on all the action from Horse of the Year Show in next Thursday’s magazine, on sale 11 October, 2012
