We’re sad to share that Lenamore, a stalwart legend on the New Zealand squad with Caroline Powell, has been put to sleep at the age of 31. Caroline Powell, the Irish gelding’s partner for the majority of his career, shared the news on her social media Sunday evening.
“Sadly the day has come… yesterday Lenamore was put to sleep at the age of 31. A little horse with an enormous heart, he completed many long format events prior to achieving great success at 5* and amassing an incredible 2321 competing points.
We made many appearances as part of the New Zealand Eventing team, including at 2006 WEG in Aachen and at 2 Olympics, Beijing in 2008, and London 2012, where we were part of the bronze medal winning team 🥉 His finest hour was his 5* win at Burghley in 2010, although he recorded many more places at that level, with an incredible seven Badminton completions, not placing lower than 12th, and five Burghley completions, placing not lower than 8th in four of those.
❤️What a character ❤️what a journey ❤️what an honour
A huge thank you to Janie and Lexi for entrusting Ed to me and for the amazing journey he took us on ❤️”
Lenamore was bred in County Kildaire by Ted & Helen Walsh, by the Irish Draught stallion Sea Crest out of the Thoroughbred mare Karinella (Valiyar).
The 2012 Olympics in London would eventually be the final dance for Lenamore — a horse whose name was traded around eventing circles as a hot choice for “one I’d love to take a spin on”. He was retired in 2013 at the age of 20. He was an iron horse, achieving the biggest win of his career at the age of 17 (Burghley, 2010). He also holds the record for the most consecutive Badminton completions (7).
Here’s a cheers for a little horse that could, and all the fans he made of all of us along the way. If you’ve got a favorite Lenamore memory, we’d love to hear it! Share it in the comments below or on social.
