Remembering Sam Barr and the Welton Dynasty with Leslie Law

I read with sadness of Sam Barr’s passing last weekend.  He was truly a pioneer of event horse breeding in England, and for me, the Welton name will also always be synonymous with Leslie Law.  Although I was extremely young (!), I do remember Leslie riding Welton Apollo at Badminton, three years in a row, and representing GB at Burghley.  That was the start of Leslie riding a number of the Welton horses, and although both our memories are a bit fuzzy, we had a nice chat about the good old days! 

Leslie initially got the ride on Apollo purely by chance,
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“It was a very unusual circumstance; I was working for Revel Guest at Cabalva and she had sent a mare to one of the stallions, I forget which one, but one of the Welton stallions, I think it was probably Apollo. Revel happened to be talking to Sam Barr one afternoon about how the mare was doing, and Sam mentioned that Apollo was entered for the Advanced at Weston Park, but (regular rider, Sam’s wife) Linda had got flu, and wondered if she knew anyone who might be able to ride him, so she put my name forward. And that was it! I went down to Sam’s and rode him on the thursday, had a sit on him and then rode him in the advanced at the weekend at Weston Park.”
I asked Leslie what his first impressions of the stallion were, 
“I have to say that Linda had done a great job producing him. He wasn’t a strong horse at all, he was a horse you had to chivvy along a little bit, but that probably suited me anyway, I’ve ridden plenty of those over the years (Leslie chuckles!).  He wasn’t a very big horse, he was probably 16hh, but he probably galloped a bigger horse than that to be fair to him.  He was always a horse that was very good as far as time goes, because he didn’t pull. He was very easy to set up, and he was a very easy horse to just keep coming to the fences on, and he was a very good jumper in front. At the end of the day he was still a stallion though, they do need coaxing a little bit, just because of what they are. He was a tremendous jumper, he was very careful, and I think he appreciated a really good ride.”
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I hadn’t realised that Apollo had been combining his stallion duties with his competing, 
“For sure, yes! His temperament was second to none. There were times when Sam would breed him in the morning, and he’d be on the horsebox with a mare going to a competition a couple of hours later! At competitions, if you didn’t already know he was a stallion you wouldn’t have been aware of it, his temperament and behaviour from that point of view was exceptional.”
From that first advanced Leslie went on to ride Welton Apollo at three consecutive Badmintons, a record for a stallion which I think still stands.
“1988 was the first year, and we just had a 20 (penalties for a refusal) there going into the Lake; it was my first Badminton and the horse’s first Badminton and I probably could have ridden a bit stronger, that Lake tends to back them off a bit than you take into consideration, with the crowds there and everything. Then in 1989 he was clear and finished 8th. I think he may also have been the first stallion to complete Badminton, and of course to then go on and do it three years in a row is quite something, because stallions are a little different to ride, quite honestly, they do have their quirks.”
Maybe because I had just started eventing, but I remarked to Leslie that it seemed to me that the Welton horses were the first time we really recognised a prefix in England with that sort of trademark, and that Sam seemed to be the first person to really take the breeding of event horses seriously. 
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“As far as breeding goes, Sam was way ahead of his time. Certainly the only other people in the UK at the time who were even close to him was Diana Scott who was breeding the Ben Faerie horses (of Priceless/Ginny Holgate fame). Sam started off with Welton Gameful which one of his daughters rode, and then from Gameful he bred the three stallions,  Welton Louis, Crackerjack and Apollo, and he was very clever in the way that he did that because all three of those stallions were just a little bit different. So, by having those three stallions he could cater to any kind of event mare that you had, because she was going to suit one of those stallions.  If you had a fine, thoroughbred mare, she was a great cross with Crackerjack, who was more of a three-quarter thoroughbred, quarter draught type; if you had that half/three-quarter bred mare then Apollo was a great cross because I think he was all but thoroughbred. On top of that, you’ve still got Louis who falls somewhere between Crackerjack and Apollo.” 
“He also realised that it’s not enough just to have a good breeding programme; you have to get those horses to the right riders. To make a name for your horses they also have to be produced, and that’s primarily what we did. Sam realised that they had to be produced properly and from there they had to go to the right riders.  I started a lot of the young ones, along with Linda. For example, I rode Welton Greylag in a few events right before Mark Todd bought him and eventually went on to win Burghley. I probably did a season on Welton Romance who ended up with Lucy Thompson and won the European Championships. Houdini went to Ginny (Leng). I actually had a half ownership in Welton Envoy for about 18 months, and produced him, and then he got sold, and Blyth ended up winning Rolex on him.”
“That’s where a lot of it goes wrong because people think they’ll breed horses, but that’s only the first part, it’s just a cog in the wheel, and Sam realised that.”
I had to ask Leslie if he has pangs now when he sees a Welton horse competing, and he laughs, 
“I think there’ll always be memories. The Welton name still crops up. I think a lot of the places in England that are breeding event horses now, have taken a lot of their knowledge from what Sam did, but it will take a lot of repeating at that level to have the same success that he did.” 
I wonder if Leslie will ride stallions again, or would ever try his hand at breeding himself? 
“I’ve ridden stallions since. When I was in England I was involved with Hartpury College and they’ve got a breeding operation there, and they asked me to find a stallion and ride it for them which I did. That was a horse called Take it to the Limit, which we gave to Jeanette Breakwell to ride when I came to the US, and that’s now competing at the 3*/advanced level. I picked him out as a four year old, and that’s been nice for me to see him progress, because it’s not easy to get a stallion up to that level, they are doing two jobs and not just concentrating on the one job, and he’s a lovely, scopey, good-moving horse.  I would imagine he’ll end up going four star as well. I’ve always been interested in that side of it. Unfortunately I haven’t got the facilities or the scope to start up any kind of breeding programme, but it’s not that I wouldn’t like to at all.” 
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Leslie has the lovely grey Rehy Lux to focus on for now; like the rest of his horses, he enjoyed a short holiday after the Ocala Horse Park Three Day, and is now being aimed at Bromont in June. I’d like to thank Leslie for taking a trip down memory lane with me, and thank you for reading. Go Welton Horses, and go eventing!
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