Farewell to an Olympic horse and other things the equestrian world is talking about

“A fighter to the end”

Medal-winning event horse Air Jordan has been put down aged 29. The Hanoverian known as JoJo, who went to the Athens Olympics, and won world team gold, with Germany’s Frank Ostholt, had had a happy retirement. Frank said it was very hard to let him go, adding: “I owe so much to JoJo; without him I would not have become the rider and trainer I am today.” The pair were also on the team that won European bronze, won Luhmühlen four-star (now five-star) and three German national titles. “He was as tough as iron throughout his life and a fighter to the end, he was a part of my life,” said Frank.

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Maths and stats

British racing is working with the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) to use mathematics to help reduce risk in the sport. RVC researchers are analysing data from 14 years of racing in Britain in the racing risk models project, which employs expert statistical techniques to improve understanding of risk factors. The information includes details on horses, racing history, trainers, jockeys and courses. “One of the key things the risk model has thrown up is that about 50% of the risk that faces a horse when he comes jump racing is the ‘horse factor’,” said the British Horseracing Authority’s James Givern. “These are sort of things such as training methods, medication histories, injury histories that we’re not familiar with, which are all considered to be a significant part of the risk that the horse is dealing with on each day.”

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Great Scot

In this piece from the H&H archive, eventing and magazine editor Pippa Roome talks to eventing legend Ian Stark, about competition superstitions, respect for his horses and feeding according to work. “At a competition, I always used to put my left boot and right spur on first and I do it most days at home, too,” Ian says, adding that he misses the “Saturday morning stomach” on cross-country day. Ian talks about his childhood, including the fact his mother bought his riding kit second-hand, as she said “it was a phase that I’d grow out of one day”.

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