Catherine Housman and Honky Cat won the five-year-old title at the British Showjumping national championships this week but life has not always been plain sailing with the “very strange” gelding, who was so tricky to back that they nearly gave up on him.
Honky was bought as a two-year-old by Catherine’s boss Julian Mincher, and later sold to Louise Drinkwater, but is still kept and produced at Julian’s yard.
“I broke him myself and he was really tricky,” Catherine said. “He was very much scared of the rider and you couldn’t stand on the right hand side of him.
“He had to live in a headcollar as otherwise you couldn’t catch him — he was very strange compared to any horse I’ve known before.
“He took a long time to back because he’d act like he’d forgotten everything he’d learned the day before.”
The rangey and scopey gelding — who is estimated to be about 16.3hh, although they can’t get a stick on him to check — is still quirky at home but comes into his own in the ring.
“He’s so random, he’s incredibly brave to a jump and has all the stride and scope in the world but if you move something on the outside world, it’s a problem,” Catherine said.
Honky’s quirks have earned him his own special management regime.
“We had him in through the winter and he just got sharper and sharper, so he now lives out 24/7 with all the two-year-olds, he loves being out there in charge of all his little mates,” she said.
“He’s so willing to come in and work though, he comes over to the gate.”
Lots of muddy early morning baths are involved in his show prep, as he can only wear a rug “sometimes”.
“He doesn’t like anything flapping,” Catherine explained. “I can’t wear a jacket with a hood and he can’t wear a rosette.”
The pair jumped the fastest of eight double clears in a closely-fought jump off for the national five-year-old title, beating Joe Trunkfield and Sing Z to the win by 0.23sec.
“I wasn’t sure I’d done enough. I knew I had Joe after me and I thought there was no way I’d hold him off,” Catherine added. “I knew Honky was brave enough to go against the clock, as in the five-year-old final at Northcote, which was my first proper show on him, we came really forward down a four-stride distance and he took off on three. We’ve got a wonderful photo of him looking like a carousel horse. Sometimes he’s a little too bold!”
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