‘We will never, ever get another. He was the gift that kept on giving’: farewell to prolific show hunter
Tributes have been paid to Rose Bailey’s prolific heavyweight hunter Twinshock Warrior, who was put to sleep aged 13 on Wednesday, 21 May, after an intense and complicated colic.
By Ricardo Z, Bernard was bred to jump, but destined instead to take the showing world by storm.
His potential was first spotted by his previous owner Jill Marsden. “He was quite literally in a neighbour’s field at the bottom of her garden,” his long-term producer Jayne Ross told H&H.
“He belonged to the neighbouring farmer, who had bought him to hunt. Jill watched him grow and grow until she finally approached his owner to ask to buy him, then swiftly sealed the deal.”
Bernard was started by Steve Pitt and Simon Charlesworth, then moved to Jayne’s yard as a five-year-old.
“I was just so lucky that we just hit it off,” said Jayne. “He was a horse you had to ask, not tell, but we were on the same wavelength. I was his partner in crime, mainly.”
Twinshock Warrior rose quickly through the ranks, winning and standing reserve champion at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in 2018 as a six-year-old. The following year, he did the double, taking the Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) hunter tricolour and sweeping through the card at HOYS, landing the overall supreme horse title.
Shortly afterwards, he changed ownership. Rose Bailey and her parents visited the yard to view a riding horse, but Rose enquired about Bernard, setting in motion a different turn of events.
Bernard went on to win both these major fixtures again, as well as Royal Windsor and he was twice supreme at the National Hunter championships. Bath and West Show, which opens this week, was one his favourites, and he boasted three championships there.
“He was like a Formula One car to ride; he had an engine to die for. And he was so light on his feet,” said Jayne. Remarkably, for a horse of his stature, Bernard coped admirably in an indoor space. “He just adapted, but lost none of his pizzazz and dazzle.”
In his downtime Bernard was everyone’s favourite at home. He enjoyed hunting amd jumping – “though he liked to be up front and wasn’t a social hunter,” – and he loved his time in his paddock every night.
“I have been unbelievably lucky in my career to have some wonderful horses and he was one of them. We will never, ever get another Bernard. He was the gift that kept on giving,” said Jayne.
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