Five-star event rider Simon Grieve has paid tribute to the privilege of riding a horse who “should never have been an eventer”, but who held his own at the very top level of the sport.
Maria Buckley’s Irish-bred gelding Cornacrew, whom Simon rode at Badminton and Burghley, as well as Pau and a host of three-star (now four-star) events, was put down yesterday (24 October) at the age of 24, after a long and happy retirement.
“All Maria ever wanted for him was that he was happy, so it was really important the time was right,” Simon told H&H. “She doted on him. I was a very close second but she was definitely his number one fan and it’s so important we do right by them.
“We all miss him so much. But what a blast it’s been.”
Simon took on the ride of “Bozzie” in 2010; he had been competed by Martin Renfrey, Rosie Bowie, Steven James and Lucy Kemplay up to two-star (now three-star) level.
“When he first came over from Ireland he did a lot of working hunters with Angela Taylor and he was really good at it,” Simon said. “He was pretty good at everything really.
“He’d been bought at the Cavan sales and Martin did lots of 90s and 100s with him; because he was taken really slowly and educated so well, he thought he was invincible, which is why he was so good.”
Simon and Bozzie went up the levels together, competing at Barbury and Blenheim, among others, and contesting their first top-level event at Pau in 2011.
“He shouldn’t have been an event horse, but he just loved it,” said Simon. “He wasn’t really built for it, not built for speed, and when he was jumping, he always did just enough. But when it got to jumping something ginormous, he gave 110%.
“We did nine five-stars and we were always really slow! But we just had such a great time going round. He was such a lovely person and so funny and entertaining – he would come and join us for picnics in the lorry park – he was just brilliant. I feel so privileged and honoured to have been a small part of his life because he was a very special being, not just horse.”
Pau 2011 was the first event at that level for Simon, not just Bozzie.
“He absolutely made all my dreams come true, and made me believe I actually could do it,” Simon said. “I remember coming to the last fence at Pau 2011 and we were clear, and thinking ‘My god. We’re going to jump clear; we’re going to do it’! I’m going to miss him so much.”
Simon said it was hard to pick the highlights of his and Bozzie’s career together as “there were so many”.
“Burghley was his speciality,” he said. “When we did it in 2013, I’d had [rare blood condition] Paget-Schroetter syndrome and hadn’t been riding at all for three months. I came back for his last run before Burghley at Somerford, as I was determined to do it, and we jumped the first two fences and he slipped over and I was knocked out. So I was banned till the week of Burghley. I did the OI at Keysoe, which was my first time across country with him since the May, and then went.
“I remember being interviewed after the dressage and was asked why I was smiling so much; it was because it was amazing we were even there. Then this incredible horse just tootled his way round Burghley, when I shouldn’t really have been there at all. Then there was our first Badminton, first Burghley, first five-star – brilliant times.”
Simon said other highlights were Bozzie’s take on life – “he just took the mickey all the time!”
This included always being the horse who rolled in front of Badminton House, “when he should have been being all posh”.
“At Pau, I was there on my own and I took him out for some grass and he started rolling, as that was one of his favourite things,” he said. “Then another horse started rolling, and another, and another; it was all down to him and all the grooms were looking annoyed because their horses were so dirty!”
Simon said Bozzie was “a sweetheart”, who would hack out calmly with anyone at home, then light up at a big event. His last of these was Badminton 2016, after which he retired to live with Maria.
“Maria hacked him and she said a friend of hers went to jump him round a few fences, thinking ‘Goodie, this horse has done five-stars’, and he was spooking and being as silly as he could,” Simon said. “He was quite tricky in the showjumping warm-up; the first time I rode him, I was thinking ‘This horse is going to be great’ and he so nearly dropped me at a cross-pole. But that was him. You had to keep it very small or he’d start kicking things out and not going near the fences, then he’d go into the ring and turn into a pro.
“Every quirk he had was totally outweighed by his big heart. I was so lucky to be involved with a horse like him, he was so special, and a brilliant person.”
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