Farewell to Hovis, who was loved by thousands, raised £100,000 and inspired Olympic gold

Tributes have flooded in from across the world to a horse who was loved by thousands, raised over £100,000 for charity – and inspired the British Olympic eventing team to win gold.

Hovis, H&H’s long-standing and only equine columnist, died last week aged 23 as a result of a twisted bowel. The part-Clydesdale gelding had been delighting fans with his Friday diary since 2008, first on the H&H forum then on the website itself from 2013.

His humorous accounts, covering everything from his penchant for “loose-moralled mares” to his battles with Kevin the keratoma and his visits from his vet Herman the German Needle Man and his farrier Cool New Shoes Man, won him a “Hovite Army” of fans. These included top names; medal-winning eventer Mary King rode him at Belton International Horse Trials, and top showjumper Geoff Billington at Your Horse Live, where he became a hugely popular annual fixture. His diaries were made into nine books, raising thousands for welfare charity Bransby Horses.

“I will probably write one last diary, from me to him,” his owner Karen Thompson, who transcribed Hovis’s thoughts every week, told H&H. “But probably what I would say to him would be: ‘Thank you’. For the most amazing nearly 20 years. And that I loved him very much.”

Karen bought Hovis as a four-year-old.

“I went to see Patsy Day, a really lovely dealer who had a nine-year-old warmblood mare,” she said. “That’s what I went to buy, and I came back with him. It went a little awry!”

Karen said that “like everyone, I wanted a horse that was going to be my best friend”, and Patsy said the warmblood mare was not that type.

“She said she was great, but not like that, she’d do the job, but won’t care whether it’s me or anybody else,” Karen said. “She’d told me about this other horse on the phone, and I thought she was mad; I certainly didn’t want some big, hairy thing. She went and fetched him in, and he was covered in mud and all hairy, and I just looked at her. ‘Are you bonkers?’

“He hadn’t grown into the rest of him at that point; he had this great big head, and the rest of him looked like a cut and shut, but his eyes – I’ve never seen eyes like it on a horse. He had eyes like a cow, great big, soft eyes, and that was it. I was somewhat smitten.”

Karen said it was only after she had ridden Hovis in the arena, and, “terrified”, on a hack, that Patsy told her he was four, and had just come from Ireland.

“She said ‘If I’d have told you at the time, you’d never have bought him, but he’s right for you’,” Karen said. “And God bless her, she wasn’t wrong.”

Karen had been looking for a horse to help get the confidence back she had lost with her previous horse, and to do a bit of everything.

“I think the part of the reason he and I and our stories connected with people is because, let’s be honest, I’m a pretty crap rider,” she said. “I just wanted something to go and have a bit of fun on but his showjumping, and cross-country – he could do all those things – and proving that the big lads can do that was good fun.”

Karen joined the H&H forum to expand her knowledge, and she said it was a “life-saver”. She posted his first “diary” in an attempt to introduce some positivity as the day’s other posts had been about bad experiences.

“It was depressing,” she said. “If you ever go back to the first book, it’s literally a paragraph, and I just wrote it as if it was him that had written it. And it was a Friday, and that was that, and I was never going to do another one.

“But the following week, someone said ‘Is Hovis going to write another one?’ And it got to the point that if he wasn’t posted by lunchtime on Friday, the forum was going bananas.”

People started suggesting Hovis write a book, then the story of two neglected horses called Carrot and Spud were shared on the H&H forum. Members of the forum united in their concern and the pair were rescued – and taken in by Bransby. The welfare charity approached Karen to see if they, Hovis and H&H could work together, and the first of nine books was published – which Hovis described as “an epic of such success it makes 50 Shades of Grey look like a B&Q paint guide”.

His diaries continued every week on the H&H website; there would be hell to pay if one was missing. And Karen said they almost wrote themselves.

“Of course, I exaggerated for a bit of comedy, but the reality is, everything I wrote about was true,” she said. “Everything I wrote about had happened. It’s going to be weird not doing it, because I used to write it in 20-30 minutes max; it was just ‘Let’s think about the stuff he’s done this week’. When people met him, they all said ‘He’s just the way you write’. And I’d say ‘I don’t make any of it up. That’s just him’.”

As the Hovite Army grew, so did Hovis’s presence. The one year he was not invited to Your Horse Live, at which people would queue for hours in the rain to meet him, his fans nearly crashed the website, Karen said. He also starred at Belton in 2018, when Bransby was the event’s charity, and Mary King rode him twice for the crowds – including some unexpected manoeuvres.

“Andrew Nicholson said to her ‘I thought you liked your horses a bit more blood than this’, and Hovis just looked at him and produced this trot Valegro would have killed for,” Karen said. “He pranced around the warm-up with the likes of Andrew Nicholson, William Fox-Pitt and Jonty Evans, then she took him out and he proceeded to fly-buck down the centre line with her. I nearly died, but that was just him – totally and utterly him.”

In total, Hovis raised over £100,000, for Bransby, cancer research, victims of the Australian bushfires and Riding for the Disabled Association groups.

“I’m super proud of the fact we genuinely never took a single penny,” Karen said. “His army of fans are just the most generous people. We’ve raised an awful lot of money for charity; there’s a lot of horses at Bransby that wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him. And as much as it hurts like hell losing him, that kind of legacy – there’s not many others who can say that.”

There are also few other horses who have coached a British team. But after years of selectors’ short-sightedness in passing him over for championships, British Eventing (BE) employed Hovis as official supporter mascot for Paris 2024.

“We’d played along with it for so many years, it was the standard joke, he’d been overlooked for the team,” Karen said. “And to get to play that out properly was unbelievable; it was so much fun. [BE CEO] Rosie Williams said people were coming up to her in France, asking for the little cut-outs of him they took out with them. I said ‘Welcome to Hovis mania’! That was probably the highlight, then him getting to meet Ros Canter and Nicola Wilson, and Ros giving him his medal in November, was amazing. Of course I wish he could have gone for 1,000 more years, but to know that we had last year – you can’t top that.”

Readers will be aware of Hovis’s veterinary history as he fractured a hind leg, snapped both front collateral ligaments, had a keratoma twice and a lens replaced in his left eye.

“I think that’s probably why, in some ways, it was such a shock last week,” Karen said. “Although I honestly think I knew that morning, he’d come back so many times. A few years ago when he had his second round of keratoma, we booked him to be put to sleep, then it was almost like he said, ‘Oh s***, she’s a bit serious about this’. And he came back. But unfortunately this time, it was one too many.”

Karen said Hovis was treated at home for colic and taken to hospital, where the vets attempted to operate but the damage was too great.

“It was one battle too many and the comeback kid didn’t have any more fight left,” Karen said. “I sat with his head in my arms, stroking him and told him how very special he was, how much me, Lils, his family and you all loved him. I told him he would never be forgotten, how many lives he had touched, and how much of a better place he had made the world.

“I told him about all of those who would be waiting for him on the other side and that I would see him again one day. I told him not to be scared and that it was all ok. And then I let him go.

“He went very peacefully and very quickly with me cuddling him right to his last breath. I promised him 19 years ago I would never leave him at the end and I kept that promise.”

Karen paid tribute to the Hoverine, the Destroyer, her daughter Lily’s much-loved “big brother”.

“He saw me through so much,” she said. “He was the constant for me for a long time, and he allowed my daughter to see so much.

“It’s raw as hell but there’s such a pleasure in the stories from people saying he helped them in dark times; that makes it worthwhile. Not just the charity money, although I’m so proud of that, but to know he helped people. He had the biggest personality imaginable; there was just something about him. There will never, ever be another Hovis.”

As one fan said on social media: “Thank you for sharing him with us. He brightened many hearts.”

Rosie Williams told H&H she was “deeply saddened” to hear the news.

“I’m so grateful he had the chance to live out his dream in Paris last year,” she said. “He truly united the country behind our incredible eventing team, bringing joy to everyone. His journey is a testament to the power of perseverance and hard work – proof that with dedication, dreams can always be achieved.”

Bransby CEO Jo Snell said all at the charity were heartbroken by the loss of “a truly special horse who has brought joy, laughter and inspiration to so many”.

“Through his witty and heartwarming diaries, Hovis became a beloved name within the equestrian community, capturing the hearts of all who followed his journey,” she said.

“Karen has been a passionate advocate for Bransby Horses, raising vital funds through Hovis’s stories, raffles, and other fundraising activities. We are incredibly grateful for her support and the impact she and Hovis have had on our work. Some of our team members have had the privilege of spending time with Hovis at events over the years, helping to care for him at shows and sharing unforgettable moments together. He was a horse like no other and we will for ever cherish the memories he gave us — both through his diary and in person.

“Our thoughts are with Karen at this incredibly difficult time. Hovis will always be in our hearts here at Bransby Horses.”

What are your favourite memories of Hovis? Share your thoughts at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine.

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