Showjumper Tina Fletcher tells H&H about her pony-shaking Hickstead Derby winner.
Fact file
- Stable name: Murphy
- Age: 17
- Height: 17hh
- Breed: thoroughbred-Holsteiner gelding
- Sire: Gale Force (Burggraaf)
- Discipline: Showjumping
- Owners: Graham and Tina Fletcher
- Rider: Tina Fletcher
- Groom: was Stacey Greenshield. Now Olivia Gent
- Best ever results: Hickstead Derby winner 2011, Horse of the Year Show puissance winner 2010
Five things you didn’t know…
- He doesn’t stop windsucking from dawn till dusk and will use anything available to grip on to – even his lead rope.
- He jumped double clear in the Hickstead Derby in 2010 and still only came second, behind Guy Williams and Skip Two Ramiro – only the second horse ever to have done so [the first was Wiston Bridget with Tim Stockdale, when the pair finished second to John Whitaker and Welham in 2000].
- Murphy is a multi-tasker who can go out and win a top speed class, puissance or Derby.
- Despite his fiery nature in the ring, he can be left to graze by the lorry without being tied up or held at shows.
- It takes a lot of work to get him sane enough to jump – he is lunged before going to a one-day show and jumps best when he’s tired. He lives out a lot of the time, to keep the edge off him.
To read the full interview with Tina Fletcher about Promised Land see the 5 April issue of H&H
Read all the latest showjumping news
Are you looking to buy a showjumper? View our online database of horses for sale
