Christmas with William Funnell

H&H asks Hickstead Derby winning show jumper and husband to top event rider Pippa Funnell, how the Funnell family spend their Christmas

What are your best childhood Christmas memories?

My stocking! Father Christmas coming was a real excitement.

What has been your best and worst Christmas?

I’ve been to Mechelen [Belgian Christmas show] twice. The first year I got food poisoning and spent three out of the five days in bed. The year after, at the same show, I was leading rider and won a trailer and a pile of money. It was a bit of a contrast.

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

We always have ham and eggs for breakfast. We do all the horses first and then the staff come in to join us. I cook most of the breakfast and Pip [his wife] does a nice ham.

What do you do with your horses on Christmas Day?

Pippa will probably go hunting on Boxing Day, so those horses will go on the walker. All the others will have a day off.

If you could have a Christmas wish granted, what would you wish for?

To win another Hickstead Derby with [triple winner] Mondriaan — he will be 16.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now