In the Member’s Enclosure at Windsor Horse Show, a friend makes last minute adjustments to a rider’s bowler hat and veil… but this is no ordinary rider, this is Pip Stacy, the Lady’s Side–Saddle judge. And she looks the part so perfectly that I am prompted to ask who taught her to ride side-saddle: “My grandmother when I was 5 years old… my grandmother is president of the Side-Saddle Association”. “Then you are a Skelton” I reply.

At school, in post war austerity Britain, I had no interest in horses. Cricket was the game. But one or two boys took the Horse & Hound, and even I had hear of the riding superstar Jennifer Skelton on her show ponies, which had alluring names such as Chocolate Box and Picture Play. From photographs, I knew what she looked like and she was surely the neatest thing you ever saw.

Astride or side-saddle she seemed to fit the pony and look right in every way. She was usually smiling as though she was having fun. Her tailored clothes added to the feeling of style. Although she could not have been much more than ten, she knew just how to wear them. Her hat, a hunt cap with a prominent peak, could be said to be on the large side, yet her face, free of today’s intruding chinstrap, is attractively seen. And you are struck by her hair which is woven into her trademark thick single blonde plait. She wears a carnation in her buttonhole. Here was the master of ponycraft in all its forms.

That is why it was such a pleasure to meet her daughter Pip. My photograph I hope conveys something of the Skelton style. She looks wonderfully at ease on a horse. Her dress is as it should be – note bowler hat and veil perfectly worn. And she is smiling.

Her grandmother, Betty Skelton, and her mother Jennifer, would surely be proud. As for me, it was a privilege to photograph the daughter of a star of my youth.

© John Minoprio 2004

The Author

John Minoprio worked in industry, and as a distributor of training films, but photography, especially photographing horses, has long been an interest. He has been concerned with a number of equestrian films, including Royal Four-in-Hand, based on the book Competition Carriage Driving by His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Queen and Her Ceremonial Horses, about The Royal Mews. He produced the film Royal Stables Oman and the book that followed it about His Majesty The Sultan of Oman’s horses. He is the author of The Blue and Buff: Portrait of an English Hunt (Swan Hill Press 1992). He lives near Malpas, Cheshire.

For full details of books by John Minipiro click here (into book review section)

© Sue Wingate - The Joy of Horses 2004