Fit for a King

The story of Hilary Linnett and her Lusitano Stallion, Juno

The perfect symmetry of Juno

At first glance Juno seems the epitome of one of those horses from the realms of many a childhood fantasy; the noble, prancing steed so beloved of monarchs; quintessential ‘equus’ as portrayed by the likes of Velasquez and Van Dyck on monumental canvases. Here, surely, is the embodiment of Pegasus,or the nursery rocking horse brought to life, dapple grey with flowing mane and tail of silver, elegant crest and an innate desire to display his virtues for all to see. How many of us in our mind’s eye transformed our rough ponies into such paragons of equine excellence?

Had anyone told a youthful Hilary Linnett that she would own such a horse she would have been incredulous. In fact, it was many years before she even heard of Lusitano horses, let alone saw one. However, Hilary’s story is one that will encourage all of us who aspire to riding these superb horses and proof that, with sufficient dedication and determination, all things are possible.

Hilary’s earliest equine ‘star’ was a pony called Black Pepper with whom she had forged a happy association at her riding school, only for him to be taken away. Proving her determination even at the tender age of 12, she made up her mind to track him down and, having done so, was delighted to be invited to continue riding the pony. The owner’s child had lost interest in riding and the fortunate Hilary was soon competing with Black Pepper at all the local shows. This happy arrangement lasted throughout her school days, during which Hilary developed her show jumping skills with the pony but, not having the benefit of professional tuition since her early riding school days, she was largely self-taught.

Unlike many young girls, Hilary did not lose her passion for horses as she passed through her teens. In fact, on leaving school she immediately embarked on a career that was to provide her with a great variety of experience of different types of horse and the various disciplines in which they were used. Her first job was looking after the Gilbey Coach Horses at Rosehill and she had the opportunity to drive the team (and pairs) on occasion. She also rode around the cross country course and had some exciting days out drag hunting.

Hilary wanted to have more qualifications and she moved to The Priory Stud in the New Forest, where she passed her National Pony Stud exam and became the Stud Manager, responsible amongst other things for breaking in and schooling youngsters. In fact, she bought her own youngster at this time and he developed into a great all-rounder. A brief marriage caused Hilary to move to the Midlands where she ran a livery yard but when the relationship broke up she was on the move again – this time to Devon, where she branched into the Point-to-Point world, schooling and racing horses for a local farmer and his friend.

Horses apart, two other lasting influences in Hilary’s life took on more importance for her at this time. Firstly, she met her current partner Tony and she began to develop her dog training skills. Even before her ill-fated marriage Hilary had started breeding German Shepherd dogs and before she knew it, various ‘wayward’ canines found their way to her for training – which involved the application of much of the knowledge that Hilary had acquired through years of dealing with horses.

Hilary meets one of her homebred dogs at a show

Before long Hilary had designed and built kennels and established the Conquell Training Centre in Devon, which went from strength to strength and became the springboard for her current business, the Oakwood Park Kennels near Wokingham. The dogs had been very successful in the show ring but Hilary had found the endless motorway travelling very tedious from her Devon base and realised that she needed to expand. Eventually she and Tony found the site of their current home about ten years ago. It comprised mainly scrubland and woodland then, but above all, it had the acreage to enable them to expand what is now a thriving business – and, of course, to keep some horses, which were now Hilary’s hobby rather than her work.

Riding was a pleasure once more and although Hilary enjoyed her cross bred Hanoverian filly, thoughts of Iberian horses had definitely started to make inroads into her consciousness. Like many of us, she had seen and admired these spectacular horses in old films on television and without knowing much about them or their origins she decided they were ‘fantastic – although she admits "never in a million years did I believe I would own one, let alone several!"

By this time Hilary had a small child to consider and she says "having children changes your attitudes. I had some horrific falls, especially out hunting – on one occasion I survived being completely squashed by a horse coming down on top of me only because the ground was quite soft. Quite apart from denting my confidence, I felt my responsibility as a mother meant that I should fulfil my riding ambitions in others ways – ways that were going to be slightly less fast and furious!"

Hilary was captivated by the horses at Turville Valley Stud

So it was that in the early 1990s Hilary started to find out more about Iberian horses and she went to the renowned Turville Valley Stud’s Open Day, from which she returned home ‘absolutely hooked’ on their horses, which she decided were the essence of grace and flamboyance. At that time, discovering more about Lusitano horses proved no easy matter since there was little literature about them available in the UK and she had to content herself with two videos of the famous Golega horse fair in Portugal. It was hard work trying to track down events and shows where Iberian horses could be seen. Royal Windsor Horse Show was one of the first to provide classes for them in 1995 (where they were an instant success) and displays were given in the main ring.

The thought that she might actually own one was beginning to dawn in Hilary’s mind, but she was at first equally drawn to the Spanish purebreds and the Lusitanos. The magnificent Royal Horse Gala in 1996 proved a turning point because here she saw both these breeds show their talents in a variety of displays (together with the Friesian and Lippizane horses) and Hilary felt that a Lusitano would be more suitable for her. On the whole she felt they had more ‘quality’ and finer heads than their Spanish cousins but most important was the fact that they tend to be narrower and would suit her better as a riding horse.

The next step had to be riding a Lusitano and where better than in Portugal? Sherene Rahmatallah came to Hilary’s aid at this time by loaning videos and suggesting a four day trip viewing studs and riding a few horses.

Hilary’s first impressions when in the saddle were that the horses were "wonderful to ride, but with some sharpness, but I do like sparkle in a horse and they definitely had that! There were one or two that I would have liked to have brought home with me but they were too expensive." Hilary’s visit was nearly over. It was about 11.30 p.m. and she and Sherene were enjoying a leisurely dinner with Joâo Cavaca when (after several bottles of red wine!) he announced that having seen her riding he knew ‘just the horse for Hilary’. The only problem was that it was in Northern Portugal many miles away. To her eternal credit, Sherene decided that since they had the remainder of the night and most of the next day they would grab their hire car and go!

With no introduction and armed only with scanty instructions that included the name of the village and the design of the breeder’s mark on the farm gates, the intrepid pair set off. They had no name of the breeder, or even the horse in question, knowing only that he was a son of Danubio and grey ‘with circles’ (dapples!). They started looking for the farm where he was kept with some fighting bulls and sheep.

Juno in full flow!

After a five hour drive through the night, Hilary and Sherene found the village but, not surprisingly, no-one knew who they were, nor did anyone at the farm speak English. The only person in the village who spoke English was summoned and eventually arrived on a bicycle. He introduced them to Manuel, the farm owner, who took them to a cowshed where Hilary saw Juno for the first time. "The minute I saw him in the stable I thought, yes, this is the horse for me. He was everything I thought I wanted." Juno was a six year old and since he was being prepared for a career in the bull ring, he was according to Hilary "razor sharp".

Juno had been bred by Francisco Bessa de Carvalho and was lucky to be alive. When he was just a few days old he and his dam were attacked by one of the fighting bulls. Juno survived, but in order to protect him the mare gave her own life and the young foal had to learn to feed from a bottle if he was to survive. This he resisted at first but one of the owner’s friends took him under his wing and successfully hand-reared the youngster, the only unfortunate result being that he was eventually wrongly branded – he should carry the de Carvalho brand. When old enough Juno was sent to the yard for training where, against all the odds, he and Hilary seemed destined to meet … and he became her dream come true.

Joâo Trigaries, one of Portugal’s leading riders, later saw Juno at one of Sherene’s clinics in S ussex and exclaimed, "Juno is a truly fantastic horse – the one I wanted! Why is he here in England?" The Portuguese do not readily let their best horses leave their shores – and who can blame them?

Before Juno arrived in England he spent some time with Joâo Cavaca for re-schooling, which was fitting since it was thanks to his advice that Hilary and Sherene had set off on a crazy moonlight chase and found their ‘buried treasure’. Joâo was a rider from the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art and he helped to calm the horse and establish him in his lateral work.

It took time for Hilary and Juno to build their relationship - this is one of Juno's first attempts over jumps

Hilary says "It took 18 months for Juno to be comfortable with my carrying a whip or wearing spurs, to not over-react to my movements, and to accept my leg. He was very sensitive but, at the same time, he wanted to please, and this made him over-anxious." Turville Valley came to Hilary’s rescue and helped to establish good basis paces and at last she could keep her leg on. Tremendous changes were required for the horse to reach the level where he was to succeed in affiliated dressage classes in 1999 – at which point, in her own words, Hilary "really chickened out of riding him myself". She is living proof of the true value of good, early, instruction, given by a teacher who inspires his or her pupils, sending them out into the world full of confidence. Unfortunately she had quite the opposite experience and this accounted for her reticence when it came to competing. Her riding school teacher had invariably left her in tears and continually belittled her efforts. "I couldn’t bear the thought of the judges looking at me – the thought of such scrutiny really frightened me, so I asked Ross Algar to compete Juno for me."

Hilary was happy showing Juno but not ready to compete on him in Dressage competition

Hilary could not have overcome her dread without Ross’s assistance and she is deeply grateful to him for taking the horse to Medium level, where he obtained good marks, often not putting a foot wrong. She admits that the combination did have to overcome a certain amount of prejudice against ‘the smaller type horse’ and ‘Lusitanos can’t do dressage’, but on the whole the judges liked him enormously and she was most encouraged by some lovely comments about his performances with Ross.

Perhaps these kind words led to her next ‘crazy’ scheme! Not content with her wild drive in the depths of the Portuguese countryside to find the horse in the first place, Hilary now decided to drive him back again … this time to compete at Portugal’s premier show in Lisbon. She explained "Nobody had ever gone back with their Lusitano to compete on equal terms with the Portuguese and Ross was very keen. It just seemed like a good idea!"

Ross and Juno competing at lisbon

At this point Hilary would like to give Ian Davis’ Horse Transport her highest recommendation: "Tony and Ian travelled with the horse; the journey took three days and it all went without a hitch. Ian was a professional and it made all the difference." Having left on Sunday, the horsebox arrived late on Wednesday. Juno seemed in good spirits, despite the searing temperature of 40^o, and as soon as he was off the lorry, Hilary lunged him in the sand school. "He proved what a tough little horse he is. He was mentally and physically fine and adapted perfectly to the new routine and the razzmatazz of the show – which included mares and foals, right outside his box!" Juno took it all in his stride and achieved two fourth places in international company in the dressage. Hilary had a wonderful time and concluded that "it was worth all the hard work to get there and take part, especially as the Portuguese were so flattered that we had made the effort – although they were a little confused to see Juno’s owner also acting as his groom!"

Hilary & Juno triumphant!

On their return Juno and Hilary went on to become Breed Champion of Great Britain at the Lusitano Breed Show (see report in The Joy of Horses, January 2000), thus concluding a most satisfactory season.

Hilary took courage at the beginning of 2000 and, facing up to her personal demons, she rode Juno in competition for the first time. She says "Well, I thought, he is my horse and I really would like to ride him in competition. In any case, I can’t bear being beaten by myself. It became a personal challenge and I was delighted when we achieved 61% at our first affiliated show. For me, it represented a big hurdle that had been overcome. Everything has worked out really well with Ross – he is now our trainer and we really benefit from his knowledge of the horse. Ross’s own commitments had changed and it would have been difficult for him to continue competing Juno anyway …"

What of the future? Whilst in Portugal Hilary also bought Quina, a purebred filly who will be covered by Juno this year, and she is waiting for the birth of another purebred foal by Juno out of Margaret Chipperfield’s mare, Hospidero.

"Quina" Hilary's hope for the future.........

Hilary believes that part bred Lusitanos will grow in popularity and may suit dressage ‘purists’ better than the full bred horses. She says "It would be possible to breed a bigger horse with good paces, but one which still collects easily and that will have the Lusitano’s capacity for learning quickly and for wanting to please."

Juno may have been Hilary’s fantasy horse at one time but he is very much reality now and he is a champion, working stallion, available to others who want to breed their own horse ‘fit for a king’.

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