Michael Fox

The eventing-mad Downton Abbey star talks to Catherine Austen about his Pony Club years and the resilience required in both event riders and actors.

- Catherine Austen

“AS soon as George has gone round Badminton, I’m going to downgrade him and get as many rosettes as I can,” grins Michael Fox.

He’s joking, of course, but the Downton Abbey actor — and owner of advanced eventer George, otherwise known as SRS Kan Do and ridden by Kylie Roddy — really does love eventing and hopes, one day, to have the time to compete again himself.

For any H&H readers who didn’t tune into the fifth and sixth series of Downton Abbey, Michael plays footman Andy Parker, whose big secret is that he is illiterate. He is one of the stars of the Downton Abbey film, released on 13 September — in Michael’s head, that’s the week before Blenheim Horse Trials, where George and Kylie are entered in the CCI4*-L.

“There are lots of similarities between acting and eventing,” says the 30-year-old. “Both require resilience; you are going to fall off more than you are going to win and you’ve got to get up and keep going. In both, what keeps you going is waiting for that opportunity — the one good horse or the one good job.”

Michael fell in love with eventing as a teenager.

“Mum has ridden all her life, but I didn’t start really until I was about 13, which is quite late,” says Michael. “We had a string of loan ponies and horses, and the stuff really enjoyed was the schooling and the competing.”

Michael was a member of the Old Berks Hunt (South) branch of the Pony Club, and won a “fortitude” award for being the only boy.