Horse of the Year Show hat-trick champion dies aged 17
The outstanding ladies’ hunter Bournebrook Golden Law has been put to sleep at 17, after showing signs of old age.
The Criminal Law gelding scored a hat-trick in the ladies’ hunter classes at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) between 2003-05 — the only horse ever to do so.
He was bred by Katie Jerram’s partner Robert Walker and had a successful in-hand career before being brought out under saddle by Robert Oliver.
The lightweight hunter first qualified for HOYS as a four-year-old and started contesting ladies’ classes at seven under Lucy Killingbeck, when he won the first of his three titles.
Shelley Perham rode him to his second two wins, including when he stood supreme horse in 2005. He was then retired from the showring. Shelley looked after him in retirement and said he “changed her life”.
“After winning at the Great Yorkshire [2004], an Irish spectator came up to me and said, ‘If God had made a horse more beautiful, he would have kept it for himself’,” she said.
“That made me aware of what a privilege it was to ride such a special horse.”
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This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (9 May 2013)
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