Gaby Cooke
I Began Out Hunting
Britain's most promising young eventer Gaby Cooke | © Nico Morgan
International event rider Gaby Cooke, aged 20, is one of the brightest young stars in British eventing today, and is already 4-star qualified. Gaby freely admits the foundations to her horsemanship skills were established in the hunting fields of Leicestershire, where she still lives and hunts whenever she can.
I would be seen at hunt meets on my Shetland pony, virtually before I could walk. I remember demanding not to be on a lead rein when I was four years old. I refused point blank, as I knew my 11hh pony Brandy would never leave the side of my dad’s horse all day.
My dad, Peter Cooke, never missed a good Tuesday, and all his family have hunted all their lives. We hunt mostly with the Cottesmore, and have odd days with the Belvoir and the Quorn. My uncle Adam Cooke is a former master of the Cottesmore.
Mum, Charlotte (Cooke), has always adored horses: she grew up in Africa. Since then being in this country she has done lots of hunting, lots of team-chasing, a bit of eventing, and has trained point to point horses. But our yard is now changed to focus on eventers.
…I was not going to be late!
I loved my hunting as a child. I remember one morning we were going autumn hunting and I got up at 2am, got dressed and was ready go hunting - not knowing what the time was, but was making certain I was not going to be late!
Out hunting you learn to ride across country and become a horseman through that. You have to find your way across all sorts of ground. At fences you have to get the feelings the horse is giving you as to how much you can push it, and ride at a fence; you have to listen to the true feeling your horse is giving a lot more than when simply cantering around on a smooth indoor surface. And this is when there are horses flying about everywhere.
I had a fabulous 13.2hh strawberry roan hunting pony called Piglet. His party trick was to roll in water - with both me and the saddle still on his back. But he was amazing: he could jump anything my dad could jump on his horse. Simply point him at a fence, and he went.
Gaby Cooke | © Nico Morgan
My old eventer who took me to the Junior European will be my hunter next season. I haven’t hunted him before now because he was so precious, but he’s definitely going hunting next season to have some fun
I have taken a few youngsters out on quieter days, depending on the ground, etc. It all very much depends on their temperament. I have had a couple of foreign horses which have been a bit tricky and they wouldn’t have settled. Horses love hunting, but some can’t take the pressure, and they will never settle out hunting.
My best horse, Sir Roscoe, which I’m aiming to take to Burghley in September, would never cope with hunting. It would blow his mind. I bought him ‘with issues’ and I can hardly sit on him in a collecting ring, never mind out hunting with all that going on. He’s now a 12yro; I bought him as an 8yro and he came with some problems. He’s coming to hand now, after a lot of time and patience.
…you can’t go to Badminton unprepared
Sir Roscoe is not the most straight forward horse, and Badminton this year will come too soon for him. He’ll need more prep runs before I could take him there. I just need a little more time with him, as you can’t go to Badminton unprepared. He’ll do some World Cup qualifiers and a three star as prep runs. I’m in my last year of young riders, so I’m really gunning for a place in the Young Riders Europeans.
Gaby Cooke
Gaby is currently looking for all forms of sponsorship for the 2011 season