Tina Cook at Pau. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
So far this off-season, we’ve dealt with the emotional blow of the retirement of Jonelle Price’s Classic Moet and Faerie Dianimo, plus Sarah Bullimore’s Reve du Rouet — but none of those quite prepared us for the announcement that British team stalwart, five-star superhero, and all-around exceptionally good egg Tina Cook is hanging up her upper-level boots.
The announcement came yesterday via a story in Horse and Hound, wherein she told the magazine that she plans to continue producing horses up to three-star level, but won’t continue competing through four- and five-star, nor will she vie for spots on British teams, any longer. The decision comes after the sad death of her top horse, Elisabeth Murdoch and Keith Tyson’s 15-year-old Billy the Red, following a brief attempt at retirement in the field. The gelding competed at Pau CCI5* last autumn, finishing 16th, but hasn’t competed internationally since, as some unevenness of stride became evident in the run-up to Badminton. Being turned out to enjoy his remaining years, Tina explained to H&H, wasn’t a viable or happy solution for the busy-brained, clever little horse, and so the tough decision was made to put him down.
“I took the decision that was right for the horse,” she says in the article, which you can read in full here. “I get so attached to my horses; it was so sad but if they can’t have a happy retirement, you have to do what’s right by the horse. And at the same time as announcing that, I thought maybe now’s the time to say what’s probably going to happen.”
Tina Cook and Billy the Red at Pau in 2021. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tina will now focus her attentions primarily on the youngster, and of course her children, 17-year-old Isabelle and 15-year-old Harry. Izzy is a keen eventer herself, and won individual silver and team gold this year at the Junior European Championships with the homebred mare, Mexican Law, while Harry enjoys playing rugby.
Tina Cook and Billy the Red at the 2019 European Championships. Photo by William Carey.
Across Tina’s extraordinary career, she’s given us all — fans of the sport, reporters, and fellow riders alike — so many happy moments and memories, which her former teammates have been commemorating across social media since the announcement.
“What a women,” writes Gemma Tattersall, who competed alongside Tina at the 2017 European Championships at Strzegom and the 2018 World Equestrian Games at Tryon. “Absolute legend. No better lady to be on a team with. She gave me the most incredible support on the teams I went on, I learnt so much from Tina and will be forever grateful. Proper team player and proper horsewomen.”
Tina Cook and Billy the Red at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Pippa Funnell, too, paid tribute to her longtime friend: “So sad to hear the news of Billy The Red. He was a brilliant but quirky little number with whom Tina brought out the very best, what a tough decision for Tina but absolutely the right decision to have Billy put down. On making this tough call she has made another very difficult decision and that is to call time on her illustrious career at the very top of our sport.”
Tina Cook and Star Witness at Burghley in 2018. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Tina’s horses, which she produces at her home base in West Sussex, where she grew up, have often been larger-than-life characters, too. There have been the Thoroughbreds, such as Miners Frolic, who continued to prove what the breed could do long after it fell out of fashion, and the quirky souls, such as Star Witness and Billy the Red, with whom Tina competed at the 2017 and 2019 European Championships, taking team gold and silver, respectively, and the 2018 Tryon World Equestrian Games, where they finished ninth individually.
“[Billy] has just got a bright brain; he’s not malicious, and he’s not nasty — he was just born bright and it’s just about finding the key. He isn’t one you’d want to overwork, as he’d probably get worse, so it’s just that fine line of doing twenty minutes and then hoping,” explained Tina to EN last year. “He’s desperately spooky — oh my god — on hacks and stuff like that. When I rode him this morning he spooked at a pile of stinging nettles, slipped, and whipped ’round. He’s always the same, but that’ll be him all his life; sometimes he spooks at flowers, sometimes he doesn’t, and so I always have to prepared for the unexpected. You just have to smile your legs around him, smile, and get on with it! I ride him at home myself — I don’t think it’s fair on anyone else to have to ride him just in case anything happens, so it’s me and him all the time.”
But for all Billy’s quirks, he was also one of the most reliable jumping horses in the game, with speed, accuracy, and careful feet on his side that made him a stalwart member of the teams. And, of course, he was an inspiration well beyond the upper levels of the sport, paying a visit to London’s Ebony Horse Club, where he and his rider shared an insight into the sport with the riders there.
Though a five-star win eluded Tina throughout her career, she was one of the most formidable competitors in the world at this level, with countless placings at Badminton, Burghley, Pau and Luhmühlen to her name. We have no doubt we’ll continue to see her on site at these competitions — particularly the Big Bs, at which she’s become a mainstay of the on-site commentary and presenting teams, and will, we expect, be the nervous mum of a competitor before too long, too.
Tina Cook and Miners Frolic at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Whichever way the journey goes from here, thank you, Tina, for all you’ve done for the sport so far. We’re still the pony mad kids with eventing posters on our walls at heart, and you’ll always be our poster girl, really.
