The owner and rider of a horse who twice represented Britain and completed extraordinary feats of endurance has paid tribute to his character and their bond after his death aged 27.
Annie Joppe’s Arab Dilmun, with whom she contested the 2009 European Championships and 2014 World Equestrian Games (WEG), had spent a happy retirement with Annie, being pampered, loved and bossing the yard until the end.
“He was a star,” Annie told H&H.
But Annie nearly did not buy Dilmun at all; she said she first saw him advertised as a five-year-old, thought he looked good and went to see him.
“I went to try him, agreed to buy him and had the most terrible journey,” she said. “He wouldn’t load, it was awful, so he went back as I’d only had him on trial.
“Then, a year later, a friend of mine said ‘I’ve got this horse for sale’ and it turned out to be him. It was quite freaky really; I didn’t know she’d bought him.”
Annie said natural horsemanship techniques helped Dilmun learn to load happily, and “after that, he was brilliant”.
“He was a pure Arab, quite stockily built, but it was his spark,” she said. “He had such a strong character; grumpy as anything if you tried to change his rugs and he hated grooming! I remember our first squad training and the vets examining him and he stood there, ears flat back, stamping his foot. He was such a character, he was just the boss.”
Annie and Dilmun completed four international three-star 160km rides.
“There are very few who can do that,” she said. “A lot of riders don’t want to do it themselves but I’ve had horses and you know their limit, and that they won’t do it. You get horses like Dilmun and it’s in their head more than anything else. They have to want to do it and he was astonishing, so determined.
“When you were out on loops in competition, his preference if he was in a group was to be just in front of a couple of mares and he’d be in heaven. He just loved it. They weren’t allowed to come past, they had to be just behind, but he’d be so happy, striding along.”
“With endurance, you’re together all the time,” she added. “All the competitions we did meant hours together, looking after him constantly. He would feel a little bit at sea when he had to go overseas, literally, or away for a big competition, and he would turn into a completely different character and be so clingy.”
Annie cited those two championships as her highlights.
Dilmun at his best
“WEG is the ultimate, or it was – we don’t have WEG any more, which is terribly sad but I suppose understandable,” she said. “It was a very exciting experience and he was at his best.
“He did quite a few national rides, including a 120km national one in Cumbria when he was relatively young and that’s when I just knew he could do it. The Cumbrian fells can be quite gruelling but he went on and on, and he won the best condition award.”
Dilmun retired some seven years ago after a last, shorter, ride in Cornwall.
“He got the usual grade ones, so it was quite a good way to retire,” she said. “ He retired when he wanted to, then we did a bit of hacking out occasionally but he wasn’t particularly bothered with it. He was happy to be retired in the field, ruling everybody; all the horses, all the humans, everything.”
Annie had to make the hardest decision owing to the effects of a field injury Dilmun sustained in retirement combined with his age.
“The bond we had was like no other. It was incredible,” she said. “He’d always listen for my voice, he’d always do his very, very best, and do everything right to the end.”
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