Tributes have been paid to Mulrys Error, the supercob with dinner-plate feet who excelled on the toughest eventing tracks going, and inspired and won hearts across the world.
Sallie Ryle’s part-bred Clydesdale, who was once sold for €1,600 (£1,300) but went on to achieve double jumping clears at Badminton and Burghley with Ben Hobday, has died aged 23 of natural causes, after a happy retirement with Ben.
“With him, I felt I could conquer the world and he let me do it,” Ben told H&H. “He was an incredible horse and I’m very lucky to have been part of it; it was very special.”
Mulrys Error was born in Ireland, by thoroughbred Eves Error, out of an unregistered Clydesdale mare who had been bought by Michael Fallon as payment for sheep shearing. He was papered at two by Michael’s friend, Mark Mulry, and sold as an unbacked three-year-old.
Sallie bought him for herself and her daughter to share, and Sallie evented him to novice level, having lessons with Ben along the way.
“They’re a really nice family, and I always used to ask if I could ride him as he jumped so well, and Sallie would say, ‘No, he’s my fun horse’!” Ben said. “She was training for her first international, a one-star at Tattersalls [in 2011], then less than a week beforehand, she said she wanted to relax and enjoy it, and would I ride him. I was very quick to say yes – and I never gave the reins back!”
Ben Hobday and Mulrys Error at Badminton 2016
Ben said Mulry was “a bit of a handful” at that first event; “pulling wheelies and bucking”, but performed a good dressage test.
“Because he was a big lad, I thought we wouldn’t make the time across country so I started off quite quick – and came back 35 seconds inside the time,” he said. “Mark Mulry was there and he was ecstatic; crying his eyes out and saying he was going to be the best horse ever, but we didn’t have a clue what was going to happen.
“From the word go, he was a real trier. I always got the sense that we were a team; he listened to me and I listened to him in return. He was an incredible animal who defied the odds. I can’t get across enough the feeling he gave me, that he could do anything and jump anything.”
After that one-star (now two-star) event, Ben and Mulrys Error moved up the levels, contesting a two-star that season and three-stars the next. They jumped clear at Burghley in 2014 and contested their first Badminton a year later.
In June 2015, Ben was diagnosed with cancer. He finished his chemotherapy treatment that September, was back in the saddle shortly afterwards – and he and Mulry jumped clear at Badminton 2016, in a moment voted the most memorable of the year at the Horse & Hound Awards six months later.
“In hindsight, I realise the state I was in,” Ben said. “I’m quite a stubborn person and if I decide to do something, I do it. Sallie didn’t treat me like I was ill, she didn’t pity me, she said if I wanted to do it, we’d do it. It gave me something to work towards, something to hope for and it got me out of hospital and started the journey.
“I’m very grateful to Sallie because a lot of people, nicely, pity you, and pity doesn’t make you stronger. You’ve always got to have something to work towards and a reason to get up and he was that reason. I’ll always be indebted to him for that.”
Inspiring others
Mulry’s last top-level event was Badminton 2018, at which he finished in front of a cheering crowd. He had become a social media sensation, with thousands of followers, and Ben said his unlikely stamp for a top event horse inspired others.
“If you’d seen him in the field and didn’t know him, you’d never believe he’d done what he did,” he said. “He probably was destined to be a hunter, but it was nice he showed the world he was so much more than that.
“I used to get so many messages from people who might not have had much money or a fancy horse, but they’d started eventing and loved it. They’d seen the cob and this northern rider doing it and warmed to it. He used to get fan mail!”
Mulry enjoyed some hunting during his retirement, which was happy to the end.
“Sallie’s amazing, and he was part of her family, but I said he’d been such a big part of my life and I’d love to look after him for the rest of his days, and he was happy,” Ben said. “He was such a fantastic horse in every way, a real dude, a gentleman, who wanted to work, the hardest trier in the stable.”
Mulrys Error has been buried at home.
“I put a big bale of straw in, a load of flowers and a picture,” Ben said. “I had a beer, sat there and cried my eyes out and then buried him. I was with him every step and that means a lot. He was a great, great horse.”
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