‘This is just the start of this horse’: Robert Murphy rides flawless jump-off round to land winter 1.35cm championship
Despite being second last to perform in the jump-off, 22-year-old local rider Robert Murphy and Julie Andrews’ How Easy kept their cool to triumph in the winter 1.35cm championship final at the 2022 British Showjumping Spring Championships held at Northcote Stud (24—27 March).
The Talan 10-year-old bay gelding manoeuvred impressively tight turns while searching for long strides with Lancashire showjumper Robert in perfect harmony. After watching earlier combinations role the last fence, Robert knew how to tackle this specific jump-off situation:
“It was a fairly long course so I tried to stay calculated as I went round,” said Robert, who is a regular face at Northcote Stud. “There were a lot of tight turns to technical jumps so I tried to keep it neat and tidy while keeping things quick. Some of the earlier riders went fast and had the last down, so I tried to keep my head as best I could on the approach to this fence by keeping the turns smooth.
“Easy has loads of ability; this is just the start of this horse. He could go on to jump much bigger things in the future, and he really tries to keep the fences up for me.”
Robert took over the ride on Easy at the end of 2021:
“He’s been jumping consistent clears at 1.40m,” Robert added. “But he’s still a bit green at this level so we’ve been getting him out as much as we can to prepare for the summer season.”
Robert has enjoyed a superb run at the British Showjumping Spring Championships this week, including taking second spot in the five-year-old winter final on his family’s Billy Earp earlier in the day.
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Born and raised in the Lake District, Alex has grown up on the showing scene. She has qualified and competed ponies at the Royal International, Horse of the Year Show and Olympia and has first-hand knowledge of the current issues in the showing world as well as the horses, ponies and riders who compete in the sport. Alex joined H&H in January 2018 as showing editor, cementing its place as the leading equestrian publication for both showing reports and current showing news in the UK. She moved on in October 2024 to pursue other opportunities, but continues to write for us on a freelance basis.