‘What a legacy Douglas Bunn has left'

John Whitaker on good times at “bigger and better” Calgary, and Hickstead

- Jennifer Donald

I CAN’T believe Hickstead is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year – what a legacy Douglas Bunn has left. I thought the venue was unbelievable the first time I went, which was in 1970 when I was 15 years old, although it wasn’t my most successful show.

I had qualified for the junior Foxhunter final and we were hoping to arrive there in plenty of time to get acclimatized and let the pony settle in, and maybe find a small class to jump first. But it took us three days to get to Hickstead and we arrived an hour before the championship started. The truck broke down, everything went wrong and it was a disastrous journey from start to finish.

The main ring is pretty daunting for a green pony and a green rider and when I eventually rode in on my little colored pony, whose name was Crazy Horse, he saw the lake and its waterfall in the middle of the ring and stopped dead in his tracks and spun around. Just then, the hooter went and I didn’t have time to get him settled and relaxed. I think I finished with seven faults which weren’t a disaster, but we put the pony back on the truck and set off all the way home again.