FROM the beginning he was always that little bit special. It was a Pony Tales snippet in The Irish Field 25 years ago that mentioned how Catherine Doyle’s speed specialist mare Flex had produced her first foal, a colt by Cruising. The Safari mare was sent to the Irish National Stud to foal down and the young Flexible was the sole sport horse paying guest amongst the thoroughbreds.

“Flexible, or Billy as we knew him, was born in April 96’. He was in fact the first ever half-bred foal born at the Irish National Stud. He was the first foal of our wonderful mare Flex who the previous summer, whilst carrying Flexible, beat the great Cruising to claim the title of Irish National Champion with Edward on board,” read a post on Edward Doyle’s Facebook page after the news broke of the stallion’s death this week.

2017 was the year when several international show jumpers retired from the sport, including Big Star, Casall ASK, Cedric and Cortes C. Another Olympian joined this elite list when Rich Fellers announced that Flexible would retire at Del Mar Horse Show in May.

“He jumped one last jump, at 1.10m, set between the Grand Prix course. Then I took his tack off and hand walked him around the arena, he was neighing and nickering to the crowd,” said Fellers then, describing the retirement ceremony for the horse he’d competed since spotting him as a young horse at Cavan.

Before the pair went on to numerous wins and awards, the young Flexible, also recorded as Flex A Bill, was produced by Doyle, who had competed both the chesnut’s sire and dam.

“We were lucky enough to hold on to Billy until his six-year-old year which culminated in him and Edward taking home silver in Cavan’s prestigious six/seven-year-old final where he caught the eye of an onlooking Rich Fellers,” continued Doyle’s social media post.

Present too for the Cavan deal was agent and veterinary surgeon Dermot Forde when Harry and Mollie Chapman become Flexible’s new owners. Their investment was repaid by a series of wins with Flexible becoming something of a Spruce Meadows specialist and he was still winning on the HITS Sunshine Series on America’s west coast when the decision was made to retire him.

His biggest win was undoubtedly his World Cup final win in 2012 – one of seven World Cup final appearances by Flexible – when Fellers became the first American rider in 25 years to win it. It was a world-calibre field that year in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch-hosted final with future London gold medallists Steve Guerdat and Nino des Buissonnets as runners-up.

Flexible winning the FEI World Cup Final in 2012

Casall ASK, Cornet Obolensky, Taloubet Z, Verdi TN, Silvana HDC and Cortes C were other finalists bested by Flexible who went one better than his sire Cruising, runner-up in the 1999 final in Gothenburg with Trevor Coyle.

Dream of all dreams

“The highlight was the World Cup in 2012 – the way that whole week played out. It was a dream of all dreams for a show jumper to win,” Fellers said about that win. That and impressive results in the US team selection trials that summer won their place on the London Olympics team where Flexible finished eighth individually, one of the best Olympics show jumping results recorded by an Irish-bred.

His results that year resulted in a slew of awards for Flexible and his breeders. He was crowned the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) International Horse of the Year for 2012 and attracted a cult following on the show jumping circuit.

“In sports, that’s always the biggest draw; the underdog. Flexible is the classic underdog. He’s a smaller horse and he’s becoming a bit of an unusual breed for the sport. The Irish horse, how many of them are there jumping at five-star shows?

“And he’s a character. And the other very obvious thing is he’s still doing it and so many superstar horses have come and gone, come and gone, and he’s still there,” Fellers said, explaining ‘Flexi’s’ popularity.

Flexible was the leading light of the Irish Sport Horse studbook in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings. His best result was sixth place individually in his golden year of 2012. Following his retirement, the ISH studbook dipped as low as 17th place in the annual rankings. He appeared twice on the cover of Horse Sport Ireland’s stallion book (2013, 2015), Dublin’s five-year-old championship is named after him and Flexible was also awarded the Sport Horse of the Year title at the 2017 Irish Sport Horse Industry awards.

Amongst his small book of mares to date are a World Cup campaigner, Ado Annie and Jimmy Ryan’s Kilnamac Sally, the dam of another London Olympics horse in Electric Cruise.

His progeny already include the promising Dawsons Gold, Dawsons Flex, Cruicerath Flexiana and Cushions, while Cawley, one of his greatest supporters, has bred several by him.

The news of the stallion’s death was relayed via social media: “He died yesterday peacefully of natural causes in his sunny paddock. He was 25 and still in work, occasionally jumping which he loved. He was a once in a lifetime horse who taught us all so many life lessons and brought so much joy to our family and everyone around him,” read the post on the Facebook page for Flexible, the little horse that could.

What they said...

“If Flexible was anything, he was a winner and this was borne out all through his magnificent career. It was also one of the elements that attracted Rich Fellers all those years ago.

“Although small in stature he had the heart of a lion. In nautical terms, he was like a pocket battleship, often outsmarting larger craft. A class was never decided until Flexible had jumped. He was the epitome of courage and consistency.

“As a representative of the Irish Sport Horse he was outstanding, carrying the flag for many years at the very top level and advertising the best qualities of the breed throughout the world.

“As a stallion, he has been limited in opportunity by the relatively small numbers of mares covered in Ireland thus far. Despite this, he has produced a significant number of successful young horses that are only now coming into their prime. Luckily with the modern technique of AI and frozen semen, this number is sure to grow in the years to come” – Dermot Forde.

“Flexible was a wonder horse, small in stature but he had a great heart. I bred seven or eight foals by him, including Hybernia (1.60m), Dowth Hall (1.40m), Flexability (1.50m), Flexirain (1.30m) and Lexi Lady, mother of the RDS three-year-old winner last week” – Dr Noel Cawley.

Flexible numbers

2010

the year Flexible jumped on the second-placed US team in the Aga Khan Nations Cup at Dublin.

34

international classes won.

20

Flexible’s age when competing at his final World Cup Final in 2016.

5

Consecutive Horse Sport Ireland breeders awards (2008 - 2012) won by Edward and Catherine Doyle for Flexible.

2

potentially career-ending injuries that he battled back from.

1

FEI World Cup Final crown.