A 65-year-old rider and her 15hh cob who have become legends of Aintree International Equestrian Centre hope their success will inspire others as to what is possible.
Sue Evans bought Belle Isle Conor to do some hacking, hunting and low-level competition – which they do. But having taken up British Showjumping (BS) competition a few years ago, they have now become an annual and major part of the National Amateur & Veteran Championships, held at Aintree every November and billed as “the greatest show”.
Conor and Sue have been there every year since their 2017 debut, excluding the Covid year, contesting the national 85cm final – but also famously flying the 1.20m joker fence in the accumulator class.
Their picture has been used by Clipmyhorse as the thumbnail for its coverage of the event, and their picture displayed at Aintree. Not only that, new championship sponsor Equiyd is sponsoring them, and funding their costs at this year’s finals.
“I couldn’t believe it when they got in touch,” Sue told H&H. “I’m not a great rider, we don’t win or get placed in the big classes. But I think it’s his exuberance – people can see that he just loves it.”
Sue said she was born a “city girl”, to non-equestrian parents, but always dreamed of having a horse. She started helping at a local riding school, riding ponies bareback to the field and “falling off a lot – I didn’t have a clue”. Later she managed to fund lessons every now and then.
“I was just besotted,” she said.
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Sue lived in the Emirates for years, where she got more riding in, then the family, by this time with three children, moved back to the UK, and about 11 years ago, she bought Conor.
“I had a lovely mare who got arthritis in her knees,” she said. “I loaned her out to a friend, who loves her and hacks her out, but was in the market for another one. I didn’t have much money as I’d loaned her and was looking for cobs as I thought they’d suit me; something simple and quiet to hack round on and do some low-level stuff.”
Sue spotted Conor advertised, and noticed that his ad stayed on the dealer’s website for some time, so she asked her husband Gary, a farrier, to check him out when he went to the yard.
“He said ‘They all look the same to me, I just look at their feet’!” she said. “So I went to see him, and wasn’t very impressed. He was a bit skinny and looked like a cow.
“But they had a little arena with woodchip and a few things to jump – he couldn’t canter, but boy, could he jump! I thought ‘Hmm’.
“Athena had been really spooky so I asked if I could put my coat by the jump to see what he’d do and he jumped about the height of the wings; ‘I’m not going to touch it but I am going to jump it’. I asked if I could take him for the weekend and to a little competition, and if he behaved, I wouldn’t take him back. You know the rest!”
For the first few years, Conor and Sue went hunting – which mainly involved Sue apologising profusely as she was carted past the master – and hacked, and did some BS Club competitions. Then a friend told her about the amateur championships, and Sue thought they sounded good.
“But she said you had to be a full BS member and I said ‘No chance, we’re just not capable’,” Sue said. “But she said no, they started at what we were jumping anyway, so I said we’d give it a go.”
They qualified, and turned up at Aintree the first year “exhausted” from the long journey in the trailer, Sue said, and with “no clue what to do or where to go”, but the staff and other riders were hugely helpful and welcoming.
“I didn’t come anywhere but it was so much fun and so exciting,” she said. “I’ve been going ever since. I love it there and Conor adores it; he knows exactly where he is.”
Sue said 2023 was their best year, when they came ninth in the hugely popular accumulator, as well as sixth in the equally well contested, and warp-speed, pairs class.
“That’s incredible for a little 153cm cob, against these brilliant horses and riders,” she said. “The accumulator is his class. When I did it the first time, I saw it was 80cm start height and thought fine, but it gets bigger all the way and the joker is 1.20m. I was bricking it! We had a couple of poles but he jumped the joker and no one could believe it. Last year, I managed to fall off before we got to it but he knew; he was looking for it.”
Sue said the Equiyd sponsorship offer came “out of the blue”, and she could not believe it was true at first. The company, an online horse management service, has not only offered her horse and rider wear but also her stable and entries at Aintree this year.
“It was unbelievable; a little hairy cob and an old woman getting this,” she said. “But a lot of people have said I’m the epitome of the amateur rider, with my little cob and my trailer, working hard, and looking like we’re having fun – which we always are. Every time I remember the course, it’a a bonus! But there’s Conor with his mane and feather flying, head up, sights on the jump, and ‘I’ve got this’. He just loves it and so do I.”
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Aintree International manager Carly Sage said it is always a pleasure to have Conor and Sue; they featured them in a video interview last year, and in a picture on display.
“They’re great fun, and they show people anyone can showjump, this is a show for everyone,” she told H&H. “He comes alive at Aintree; he absolutely loves it here and she’s great fun. He is a superstar, and can seriously jump!”
Do you know of a super cob? Share your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
