Serena

The ‘darling’ mare who ‘coped with everything’ during the Silverton’s golden era

- Octavia Pollock

FEW know their hunt country as well as Pat Bromell, senior master of the Silverton in Devon, knows hers. Now 88, she has hunted there all her life and Serena stands out among her horses: “I’ve had several horses but she was the best ever — a treasure.”

Pat bought the 15hh mare at Exeter market in about 1982, aged five: “She looked nice in the ring, gentle. She was strawberry roan and our huntsman had one at the time, so she caught my eye,” she says.

Serena was good from the off: “She came from Cornwall and knew all about hunting.”