Topspin

He lived up to his name of "Spin" as a young horse, but has become a five-star stalwart. Gemma Redrup meets the Casburns' third-generation home-bred

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RIDER ALICE CASBURN

“‘SPIN’ was incredibly difficult to back and produce. Everyone who had a part in him spent more time on the floor than they did on board and he had a reputation for spinning. We’ve also had people come here for work experience and whenever they went in his field to poo pick, Spin put his ears flat back and chased them out. But with Mum and I, he’s a donkey on the floor – he loves to be cuddled and fussed over

“He is a third-generation home-bred and we’ve had five foals out of his mother, Capriati. Pictures of his grandmother ‘Spangle’ show that Spin is the spitting image of her. My granny helped Mum with the breeding and she used to joke that Spin and I would get to Burghley one day – that was at the point when I don’t think he was even managing over a novice.