Craig Elenor and Sara Parrott

Perfectionists in the show ring and business-savvy, this couple have an unstoppable recipe for success. Alex Robinson finds out how they make it work

-  Alex Robinson

HOW do most good love stories start? A guy, a girl and the exchange of a drink. Throw in the backdrop of a horse show and that’s how one equestrian power couple started their relationship. Craig Elenor and Sara Parrott, one of showing’s most established producing duos, first met at Arena UK some seven years ago while attending the British Show Pony Society (BSPS) Summer Championships. It was the show’s annual Saturday-night party held at the venue’s bar where groups of show-goers descended for celebratory – or commiseratory – drinks.

“The week after the BSPS champs we were both back at Arena UK for the Coloured Horse and Pony Society (CHAPS) finals, and conveniently our horses were stabled next to each other,” reminisces Sara, who moved from her home town in Essex to join Craig at his base up north a year later.

“There was a bit of a language barrier at first,” jokes born-and-bred Yorkshireman Craig, who started his professional career showing in-hand ponies under the watchful eye of legendary showman Jerome Harforth. “Jerome was an utter perfectionist in all ways. He taught me the art of how to run lots of horses from the same yard at once. I was lucky to work with him as well as many other great horse people.

“My first big win as a handler was the breeders’ supreme at the Royal Show. I took the lead of my mother’s Welsh section B mare Paddock Picture as Jerome couldn’t attend the show. She was a really quirky pony. She won a hell of a lot in the show ring and taught me how to cope with those bigger characters.”