Lucinda Green

The event rider’s record of six Badminton titles has yet to be surpassed. Lucinda Green tells Catherine Austen about those winning horses and the lessons each one taught her

AN unmistakable figure in primrose yellow cross-country colors with that rock-steady lower leg position and arm stretched forward to allow the horse freedom, Lucinda Green was the public face of eventing for over a decade. Her six Badminton wins – and the popular books she wrote about the horses who gave her those victories – made her a household name.

Her legacy to the sport she loves is her passion for bold, safe cross-country riding and for passing that on to others.

No one, however, is born a fully-fledged horseman or woman; there skill and understanding are built from myriad experiences with horses in all sorts of situations. Which lessons, therefore, did each of Lucinda’s most significant horses teach her?

The earliest tutorials were delivered by her New Forest pony, Jupiter.

“He taught me two of the greatest lessons of my life when I was eight,” Lucinda says. “He taught me the timing of using the stick, and the art of soft fingers over the fence because if I touched his mouth over a jump, he would stop dead at the next one.

“I learned that, no matter how out of balance I was, I must allow him to have whatever rein he needed. This, I believe, is one of the fundamental reasons why those different horses tried their hearts out for me.

“The timing of using the stick came in handy with Be Fair, who never took the bit into a fence – he’d always have to be urged.”

Be Fair, who gave Lucinda the first of her six Badminton winners in 1973, was bought for her as her 15th birthday present. He was five and had done little.