Tributes paid to team chase and hunting star
Tributes have been paid to a hunting star that died following a team chasing accident.
Dai Harrison’s popular horse, Dutch, had been a stalwart of the Boring Gorings’ open team for the past few seasons.
The 12-year-old gelding was put down after sustaining a leg injury at the Berkeley team chase on 4 October.
By Catherston Liberator, the bay gelding came to the Harrisons’ yard in the summer of 2011 on the condition that he would not be sold.
Bred to event by Jan Whitehead, the horse found his forte on the hunting field.
Dai, who retired as a master of the Monmouthshire earlier this year, also let his son’s partner Tabby Prest borrow Dutch to learn side-saddle on.
“I rode him for a whole season side-saddle,” Tabby told H&H. “We both learnt together.”
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With Dutch, Tabby became the first person to tackle the Royal Welsh inter-hunt relay riding side-saddle.
They combination also took second place in the Dianas of the Chase cross-country side-saddle race in 2014.
“Primarily, he was an amazing hunter who led the field flawlessly over all sorts of obstacles,” said Tabby.
“I have never seen him refuse a fence.”
She remembered how the first hunting fence she jumped side-saddle on him was a set of 1.10 rails — which he cleared with ease.
“He was really a horse for everybody — we are all predictably devastated,” she added.
The horse was featured in H&H’s report of the Meynell and South Staffs team chase, where the team came third in the open.
“My horse actually lacks turn of foot as he is part-warmblood — his grandsire was Dutch Courage — but he makes up for it with his turning and jumping,” Dai told H&H at the time.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.