Tom Bird (GBR) and Cowling Hot Gossip. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
There’s something rather cool about completing your first Badminton when you’re the youngest rider in the field. Tom Bird, 23, has two Burghleys under his belt before this week, but now he’s done the “double B”.
Cowling Hot Gossip, on whom Tom jumped clear across country with 26.8 time-faults, was the first horse Tom backed, when the horse was five and Tom was 15. Three show jumps down today for 39th place did little to dim the glow of achievement.
“It’s been a dream come true to ride at Badminton and to complete it,” says Tom. “Three down shows there is room for improvement but I’m delighted with him. I’m really proud.”
At Burghley last autumn, the pair skittled seven rails.
“He actually had ulcers quite badly then, which won’t have helped the situation,” Tom says, “but he finds it really tough at this height, square… He’s very brave, which is great out on the cross-country, but he’s not always overly bothered if he touches a rail. We’ve been doing a lot of work with Chris Bartle, just really working on trying to have a better canter to enable him to use himself as much as he can. And I think I started well, then I went a little bit ‘empty’ to fences four and five and had them down and paid the price. Then the round got better and better as as I settled and he settled. I’m over the moon.”
Tom was spotted living it up at the lavish Project Pony party on Saturday night, but he refused to be drawn on any antics, saying that he was “very sensible and home before midnight”.
“Yesterday was a huge achievement, and everybody knows that you’ve got to take the good days when they come, because there are plenty of not-good days.”
Cowling Hot Gossip, a 13-year-old by Away With The Faeries, is, Tom says, “a laidback character 90% of the time. But he can go from being very chilled to explosive in a millisecond, and that’s what happens sometimes in his dressage, like with his flying changes on Friday.
“But he’s inquisitive, the most cuddly, lovely horse you’ll ever meet. He’s a great character. We love him.
Burghley this autumn is the plan, and Tom hopes to have two horses at the Lincolnshire five-star – Cowling Hot Gossip and Rebel Rhyme, who have completed a Burghley apiece so far.
“For me at the moment it’s all about just getting mileage and experience at the level, and hopefully the results will start to come.”
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