Horse & Hound
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Tributes have been paid to Olympic dressage rider and leading trainer Sarah Whitmore, who “played a big part in many lives in the equestrian world”, who died peacefully on 27 March, aged 89.
Sarah was born at Hilders Farm, Edenbridge, Kent, on 9 August 1931 and remained on the farm her entire life. She grew up in a hunting family, walking hound and beagle puppies for the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt with her brother Roger. Her father Searle Whitmore owned the Edenbridge Tannery and when hunting commitments permitted, she worked at the tannery, sorting the hides for the Northampton shoe trade.
Horse & Hound
Trending: Credit: Peter Nixon
Before she came became one of the county’s leading showing producers, Jo Bates found favour and results between the white boards.
“I started my riding career on a little dun lead rein pony,” says Jo, when she chatted to
“We had great fun with her. Dad used to lead me; he would be all dressed in his tweed and trilby hat. He would make me do round the world at the end of every show, not just one way but both, so I had that down to a tee.”
After competing on show ponies during her childhood, Jo then forayed into the dressage arena for sometime. She became one of the top young riders in the country and was crowned junior dressage champion in 1978, aboard Scotch Royale.
Credit: Peter Nixon
Sonnar Murray-Brown is one of Britain’s most exciting up-and-coming dressage stars, currently scoring top placings at international grand prix with his Latimer gelding Erlentanz TSF. Let’s find out more about him.
1. Sonnar Murray-Brown was born in 1988 near Chichester in West Sussex. His parents were not horsey his father ran an outdoor education centre while his mother is an assistant headteacher, and the family’s main sporting interest when Sonnar was young was sailing.
2. His first pony was called Polo, and was bought unbacked for £250. “We had no transport and had to lead him home along the main road,” recalls Sonnar.
Credit: Peter Nixon
The international dressage rider tells Polly Bryan how he has rebuilt his career following catastrophic injury
On 25 January 2009, Sonnar Murray-Brown had the world at his feet. He was 20 years old and had just won the young rider team test at the Addington High Profile show riding Catherston Liberator, almost two years into a successful apprenticeship with Jennie Loriston-Clarke. But the next day, his life changed forever when he was involved in a devastating car crash.
“We were on our way to buy ice cream, can you believe it,” Sonnar, now 32, tells me, smiling ruefully as he thinks back to that day. “I was the front passenger, my boyfriend at the time was driving and he lost control on a country road at 60mph. The car spun and we hit another car coming the other way head on. I remember waking up on the grass verge and wondering why my hair was wet and why someone was cutting off my trousers. I didn’t realise I had broken both my legs.”