Farewell to legendary pony who kick-started Olympic medallist’s career: ‘He set me up for life’

Noble Springbok, who won nine pony eventing European medals with three riders and started Olympic triple medallist Laura Collett’s career, has died at the age of 27.

“Going to my first Europeans and winning team gold and individual bronze would be my favourite memory of him,” said Laura. “I went there not expecting anything and was very naive about the whole thing. He started all three of us off – none of us knew anything – and was a machine who could go to a championship every year and come back with a medal.”

Laura was a show rider initially – she rode for producers and she and her mother Tracey bought unbroken ponies, made them and sold them on to make ends meet. It was a fortuitous bit of dealing that landed them the five-year-old Noble Springbok.

He was advertised in Horse & Hound as part of a job lot from the Noble working hunter yard, run by Kelly Lyons (now Ward), who had outgrown 14hh workers. Laura fell in love with him, but Tracey said they couldn’t buy the first pony they’d seen.

But Laura was calling the shots. In an interview in H&H in 2011, she said: “While we were showing I’d always had one pony of my own that I chose when I wanted to sell, so I’d decided I was going to sell this one and that money would go towards buying my showjumper or event pony, so I was a bit of a brat and said, ‘Well it’s my money, I’m going to buy this one’.”

The Colletts paid around £5,500 for Spring — beating Ben Hobday to it by hours — and with the guidance of the Pony Club, Laura moved into eventing.

In 2005, the pair scored three thirds – including in the pony national championships at Sansaw – and a win in their three British Eventing runs and went to the pony Europeans, where they took team gold and individual bronze.

“He was very sure of himself and knew how special he was,” said Laura. “He was like a horse with short legs and rode like a horse – nothing about him was really pony-like. He found jumping very easy and had to learn about dressage. I jumped some massive fences on him and felt like he would jump the world.”

When Laura was out of ponies at the end of 2005, she discussed Spring’s future with her trainer Yogi Breisner.

“He said I could keep him as my junior and young rider mount – and who knows how far he’d go – but equally that selling him could set me up for life and that’s what he did,” she said.

Laura made the heartbreaking decision to sell and with the proceeds, she bought a lorry, a walker and three or four young horses. One of them was Rayef, who she rode to eighth at her first Badminton Horse Trials in 2011 and her debut senior championship appearance at that year’s Europeans.

Noble Springbok was sold to Libby Soley, with whom he won individual gold and silver medals and a team gold and bronze. She then sold him to the Walker family for Grace Walker to ride. When Grace’s parents Philip and Sarah wanted a professional to base themselves at the Walkers’ home at the Membury Estate, Wiltshire, and help their daughter, Libby’s mother Sue recommended Laura.

“It was special to be able to get back on him later in life and and watch him turn into a bit of a legend,” said Laura.

Noble Springbok did two more Europeans with Grace, taking individual silver, plus a team gold and a team bronze. The Walkers kept him after Grace stopped competing him in 2014 and he lived out his retirement with them.

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