This year Mike Jackson will not be a spectator at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trial but instead a competitior; tackling those famous fences for the first time on a family bred horse
Bledington-based event rider Mike Jackson will make his debut at the most famous horse trials in the world, the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, next month (6-10 May)
He will be riding Kangasong (known as Joey at home), a 14-year-old gelding owned and bred by his wife Ellie’s parents, Christopher and Rosalind Gaskell.
“Ellie competed Joey’s mother, Kangaru II, and he was foaled in their garden at home,” said Mike. “He was brought up as part of the family, and it’s incredibly exciting to be going to my first Badminton on a horse we have known for his whole life. Joey is a brilliant jumper and I can’t wait to have a crack at Badminton with him,” said Mike. “It was my childhood ambition to ride at Badminton – it is the pinnacle of our sport, and very few riders are lucky enough to make it there.”
Mike and Ellie have two children – Noah, six, and Florence, four, and the whole family will be cheering on Mike and Joey at Badminton, along with supporters from the Heythrop Hunt, for whom Mike acts as a field master during the winter months.
