Barney

Eventing wasn't for this horse, but hunting hounds and jumping the biggest places certainly was

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NEVER judge a book by its cover or a horse by its looks. “He wasn’t over-graced with bone,” says Alan Hill, Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) representative to the Pointto-Point Authority board. “Vet Bob Baskerville had a look and said, ‘He’s sound, but you might have to move him on after two or three years; his bone’s too fine’.”

Some 10 years later, Barney was retired sound after a stellar career in which he “never refused, never fell, never even backed off”.

Barney began as a potential eventer with Polly Gower, who found he had “loads of ability”, but started to plant or nap halfway round the cross-country, so thought he might enjoy hunting. Alan was hunting the Vale of Aylesbury hounds at the time, in the 1990s, and was “always looking for a horse”, so he tried him.