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‘Every day was special’: sad farewell as former advanced event horse and his best friend go peacefully together

Andrea Morris has paid tribute to her much-loved, quirky, talented advanced event horse Dust In The Wind, who has died aged 31.

Andrea told H&H she had to let “Murphy” go, on the same day as his best friend, constant companion Cool Waters Blue, a 26-year-old former two-star eventer owned by Lorraine Elliott.

“He’s been a good lad for me,” Andrea said. “I never knew if he’d retire as he was so switched on but with his friend Blue, he had a dream retirement. They were like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and we always thought that we’d have to let them go together.”

Andrea bought Murphy as a four-year-old, from an ad in the Farmers’ Guardian, as he was local and she had had another horse by his sire, Euphemism.

“That pricked my ears up, and as soon as I saw him, I said to my mum ‘I hope this horse jumps because I really like him’,” she said. “He had that presence; I kind of knew, straight away. I’d never taken money for a deposit when I went to see a horse but for some reason that day, I had cash, so I left a deposit there and then.”

Murphy came with a reputation for being sharp, Andrea said; she had to “build the bridle on his head”, and could not touch his ears.

“The night before he went, it was odd; I was giving him a good groom and he let me brush his forelock, which he’d never let me do his whole life,” she said. “He was quirky, all right, but from when I saw him jumping down a grid as a four-year-old, I knew he’d make the top level.”

Andrea and Murphy qualified for the Burghley young event horse final in his four-year-old year, and they went to the eventing young horse World Championships in Le Lion three years later. They had good results at Blenheim, Boekelo and Bramham three-star (now four-star), and Andrea said her highlight was winning the eight-year-old challenge at Wilmslow in 2001.

“That win at Wilmslow was a bit special,” she said. “I’d had that seven- and eight-year-old challenge in mind from the start but the year before, he went lame on the day with pus in the foot. He was absolutely raring to go the next year but everything was cancelled because of foot and mouth disease.

“Wilmslow should have run in the April but they had it in the summer so I took him to Longleat for a run before and he was so opinionated, so fit, and with all the sea lions barking, his dressage was awful. He had three showjumps down so I withdrew, went to Wilmslow, and although he was wild at first on the cross-country, he got his fix and was just mega.”

Andrea said her one regret was that Murphy never got to do Badminton or Burghley; he qualified aged nine but she thought it would be too soon, then she had a nasty injury when a horse came down on her on the road and had to have a year off. Although, she added, Murphy was responsible for Andrea’s comeback, with a top-10 finish at Bramham, each time he was being aimed for a four-star (now five-star) event, he was ruled out in the run-up owing to lameness issues.

“I’m gutted he never got to do a five-star as he was so talented,” Andrea said. “Every time I went abroad, someone wanted to buy him. He was always on track, brilliant on the lines, so brave and with a lovely technique. I always knew I could trust him.

“He was a prima donna! But with lots of character. He didn’t like a fuss but he was the most generous horse, who always wanted to try.

“It was a big loss, with Blue too; they’d given us a few scares but they were tough – I don’t think they build horses like that any more – and every day was special.”