Chestnut horses have always had a rather bad reputation, but with the increased numbers now being seen in International competition, perhaps the future will be decidedly... brighter?

I have been horse riding now for over 20 years and during that time I have became a bit of a magnet for chestnut horses. Now although I can’t begin to claim that they were all very sane and balanced horses, I can honestly state that my equestrian life would have been a great deal poorer in their absence. What follows is an honest account of just a few of the wonderful characters that I have had the privilege to know. As you will see, some of them are cheeky, some innocently dim witted and some deviously naughty but all have given me fantastic memories and taught me a great deal about much more than just horses.

One of my earliest encounters with chestnuts was a pony named Robbie who lived at my riding school. Although only 13hh, Robbie had a huge character and was a firm favourite with the countless young children who took their first steps towards their Badminton aspirations with him. Personally the site of this small orange pony with flaxen mane and tail proudly carrying his charges around the arena, never failed to summon up the image of a Thelwell cartoon in my mind. Especially given that he was very nearly as fat as his alter ego too! I’m sure that Robbie thought that withers were an optional extra in a horse’s anatomy as he never managed to convince anybody that he’d ever possessed such things. And the fact that he was almost circular in width did on occasions cause a few problems for his riders, as many a child disappeared over the edge of his generous flanks when a blissfully ignorant stable hand had failed to successfully “weld” his saddle into place!

Robbie doing a Thelwell impression

Once his young rider was safely secured on board though they could be assured that they were in the very best of hands as with a nervous beginner, Robbie was a total gentleman. With a more experienced rider in the saddle however it was a totally different story and many of his young fans would have been horrified to see his Jekyll and Hyde style transformation from mild mannered lead rein to rodeo pony. When asked to perform anything more strenuous than plodding along behind an assistant Robbie would proceed to throw a huge tantrum, bucking and rearing as if he were totally wild and untrained!

It was one such paddy that was responsible for one of my more painful memories of chestnuts, when Robbie and I had a disagreement during a cross-country schooling session. He decided that four jumps was more than enough for anyone to expect him to attempt and whilst on top of the Irish Bank he promptly went on strike and stopped dead to grab a mouthful of lush grass. Sadly, I hadn’t been informed of Robbie’s decision and went sailing over his head and the edge of the bank to land in a painful, broken heap on the other side. Now it could have been the early effects of concussion I know, but I could swear that when I looked up at my little chestnut partner he was wearing a very self-satisfied grin behind that huge mouthful of grass!

© Sue Wingate - The Joy of Horses 2004