Beverley Hunt

National Sales Manager

How Long Have you Been Riding/Interested in Horses?

I started riding when I was seven, my parents thought I would grow out of it and here I am nearly 34 years later still riding!  I competed in all disciplines when I was a child, and used to hunt with the Windsor Forest Bloodhounds.  I competed in my first unaffiliated ODE at the age of 14 against an all adult field and managed to come 2nd - perhaps one of the best horsey moments in my life!  At the age of 12 I brought my first project - a part Arab colt who was 6 months old.  The idea was to break him in and then sell him for a profit - I ended up keeping him until he died at almost 22 years of age.  I also had an intermediate eventer mare that I got in my 20's whom I put into foal.  The result of which was a giant of a colt - the biggest TB ever born as he stood at 18.3hh.  I also kept him for all his life.

Nowadays I own just one horse, a retired eventer called Harley who is on permenant loan to me.  I still do a bit of everything with him but my ambition is to do a dressage test where he goes as well as he does at home!

Most Embarrassing Horsey Moment?

This has to be after my TB foal was backed as a 3 year old.  My friends turned up to watch me have my first lesson on him only for me to get bronked off as I was mounting!  I went about 15 foot up in the air and landed on my back on a concrete yard - ouch!  I had to have a motorcycle escort to hospital as the helicopter could not get into land - I had cracked a small bone in my back but thankfully nothing more serious.  The bruising had to be seen to be believed!

Horsey Hero?

That has to be Aldaniti - what a fantastic story and it shows what can be achieved against the odds!  I also have huge admiration for Johanna Vardon of the National Foaling Bank.  What a fabulous service this lady provides to those that have suffered the bad experiences of foaling, both equine and human. She is a real inspiration.