Galloping on the beach helps 18.3hh ‘slow coach’ event horse qualify for prestigious showjumping final
Standing a mighty 18.3hh, nine-year-old Kill Bill JX certainly catches the eye. But Rachel Williamson’s lofty four-star eventer is breaking the mould in more ways than one.
Event rider Rachel collected a ticket to a prestigious showjumping final at the Royal Highland Show at her first attempt when she landed The Wright, Johnston and Mackenzie LLP Young Masters qualifier at Morris Equestrian Centre, Kilmarnock, recently.
“He just steps around anything,” said Rachel of the Dutch-bred son of SIEC Atlas, out of Darco mare Darnica Z, who is known at home as “Alex”. “I had him in the young masters two years ago when he was seven and he skipped round. I thought instead of jumping him at home, I’d jump some young masters this year as practice rounds.
“He is a big slow coach but we’ve been practising some fast work on the beach, so he’s come out a bit faster this year.”
“Nobody wanted to buy him”
Rachel, who is 5ft 6in tall, has had Alex since a three-year-old, but almost sold him when he was four as he was “far too big”.
“I was only 16 and I was really struggling with him,” she said. “No one wanted to buy him though, so we decided to keep him and try eventing! He went from BE100 to three-star in a season. The plan is to get four-star long qualified and then aim for a five-star.
“He does get a fair few looks because of his size, but he loves it and is good in all phases,” she added.
As well as qualifying for the young masters showjumping final at the Royal Highland Show in 2022, they also finished sixth in the Andrew Hamilton Novice Championship Final.
In this year’s Morris EC qualifier, the pair edged ahead of Kate Reilly (Claretina) to deliver the fastest of four double clears by 0.24sec, proving that Kill Bill JX has plenty of ability over both the solid fences and coloured poles – as well as an impressive turn of pace.
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