AMONG those influential people in Irish equestrianism who died in 2024 was Richard Tolerton, whose death was announced on August 6th.

Predeceased by his wife Elizabeth and survived by his son James and daughter Margaret (Creighton), Richard was a stockman through and through, being raised on a dairy farm, Holborn Hall, outside Lisburn, where his parents also kept ponies for Richard to ride and he reared piglets as well.

Among the neighbours whose ponies he rode was Hill Stewart, father of international show jumper turned racehorse trainer George Stewart, and Sandy Hamilton, whose ponies he competed at the Dublin Horse Show following their train journey down from Holywood. In those days, the legendary Jack Bamber would load up between 60 to 80 horses in Lisburn.

Richard was passionate about hunting, hacking many miles to and from meets of the Co Down Staghounds and the Killultagh, Old Rock and Chichester Harriers. He also rode in point-to-points, both on horses he owned and trained himself and for others such as Douglas McMurray from Banbridge.

In the eulogy he delivered at Richard’s well-attended service in Legacurry Presbyterian Church on August 12th, William Creighton spoke of some special moments in his grandparents’ lives.

“Those of you who attended the funeral of my grandmother Elizabeth will already be familiar with how she and Papa met on horseback on the grassy lanes between their family farms on Plantation Road and the Ballynahinch Road. They married and moved into Holborn Cottage on Plantation Road and soon my uncle James and then my mum Margaret joined the family.”

In a profile piece, which was published in The Irish Field in late February 2007, Ruth Loney wrote all about Tolerton’s days in pony jumping before moving on to his life with horses as an adult.

Richard Tolerton

Good swop

Richard’s father-in-law James Gardner paid 18 guineas in Goffs for Coleman Princess, a yearling filly by Prince Richard out of Secret Pack from Daniel Hanley. The mare turned out to be a half-sister to seven winners, headed by Black Secret who ran three times in the Aintree Grand National and, ridden by Jim Dreaper for his trainer father Tom, finished second in 1971.

“I eventually swopped a heifer with my father-in-law for Coleman Princess,” Richard revealed to Ruth, “and I won the class over the banks with her in the RDS Main Arena.” He also rode the mare on the Northern squad, which won the SJAI inter region team competition at Balmoral, alongside Brian McNicholl, Joan Morrison and Patrick McKee.

Coleman Princess was to become their foundation broodmare when Richard and Elizabeth purchased the neighbouring Beechmount Farm, where they reared pigs, beef cattle and hens (delivering eggs to local shops and restaurants), raised their two children and where they ran successful one-day events for roughly 20 years in the 1980s and 1990s.

Another thoroughbred horse who won over the banks at Dublin was the gelding Ballymullen, who Richard and his father purchased from Colonel Dan Corry for 35gns at Goffs and who eventually ended up with British international show jumper Peter Robeson.

While Richard and Elizabeth’s son James veered off into motorsport, their daughter Margaret followed her father’s path into show jumping, with such good ponies as Rainbow and Decimal Coin, while also showing the top-class Fancy Free of Daldorn.

When she moved into horses and Richard continued to fill the roles of groom, trainer and driver, Margaret competed some home-bred thoroughbreds out of Coleman Princess including the First Consul gelding Ipi Tombi, who she rode at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, alongside Fiona Wentges (Ballylusky) and Jessica Harrington (Paddywhack) plus the late Captain David Foster (Aughatore) and Sarah Gordon (Rathkenny).

She also evented the home-bred Ballymullen, who was by First Consul out of Lapley Gorse, a Skyros daughter of Coleman Princess. This second Ballymullen went on to win the National class at the 1992 Punchestown international horse trials, having previously scored twice that year in Britain. Richard was present on all three occasions, as he was in Los Angeles, and when Margaret got a late call-up to compete at the Spruce Meadows Masters Million Dollar Weekend in 1991.

There, she rode the Snuff Matter gelding Ravensdale, who Richard had purchased as a foal in Banbridge, but who belonged to Biddy Taylor. The owner was unable to travel as she had no passport, but Margaret’s husband did join the party, having been persuaded to do so when the show’s setting was described to him over the ‘phone.

Real guts

“In the Masters, Margaret and I walked the course and I never saw fences like them in my life,” Richard told Ruth Loney. “Big Ben and Ian Millar won it that year with three clears. Margaret knew if she got through the finish at all, the show would cover the cost of flying the horse. I’ll never forget it.

“Ravensdale got going after the first three fences and took on the combination. He had real guts, because he stopped at the double ditches and then jumped them to finish. I couldn’t believe the height of the parallel planks, they were well above our heads.”

Richard reckoned that the home-bred Beech Patrol, a thoroughbred gelding by Arcticeelagh out of Coleman Princess, was a world-beater, revealing: “We took him to Leeuwarden as a six-year-old and he was winning the jump-off class up to the last and was placed. I helped school and train the horses with Margaret and Beech Patrol was super. In the Top Score at that show, I can see him at the single bar joker fence coming down to it in two strides and turning and clearing it backwards. He was in the money and we were delighted.”

Out of Coleman Princess, Richard also bred the Prefairy gelding Camlin River, on whom the now Scotland-based veterinary surgeon turned racehorse trainer, Ian Duncan, won at least two point-to-point races. John Sleator partnered the horse on the track, one year winning the Ladies Cup over the banks course at Punchestown and coming out the following day to finish second to the great Any Crack in the La Touche.

“Camlin River was a very good, well-bred horse,” Duncan told The Irish Field. “I used to race him in the spring and event him during the autumn. We won the National Championships at Ballindenisk one year and were short-listed for the World Championships.”

Later on, Richard began using Irish Draught and Sport Horse stallions on his thoroughbred mares, with Margaret eventing the subsequent produce, as did her daughter Charlotte. Richard maintained his interest in racing throughout his life, but had to expand his horizons beyond horses, as his grandson William Creighton successfully moved into motorsport and he was immensely proud when William won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2023.

Richard devoted himself to his wife Elizabeth when she suffered a severe stroke in 2012, sadly dying in 2018, and he too was well looked after by family and friends when recovering from a heart attack, bypass surgery and two hip replacements. He also had to deal with Type 1 diabetes. Those who knew Richard weren’t too surprised when, at the service celebrating his life, William recalled one incident involving his grandfather and his health issues.

“Fortunately, Papa made a speedy recovery from his hip replacements, which meant he could quickly return to farming duties. In fact, his recovery process was so fast that, when the doctor called days after the operation to see how he was resting, on his arrival at Beechmount he was shocked to discover the quad running – with a pair of crutches in the front basket – and Papa nowhere to be seen.”

Tolerton’s travels without horses also took him to Australia and Argentina (where sitting beside a fire, eating large lumps of beef suited him well), but there was nothing he enjoyed more than reminiscing about days gone by in the company of his contemporaries Billy McCully, Bill Buller, Maurice Bamber, Jim McEvoy, Lewis Lowry, John Fryers and Harold Lusk to name but a few. The stories told on these occasions were always humorous, ending in gales of laughter.

Sadly, the last few years of Richard’s life were difficult and, among the many thanked by William for doing all they could to help him through this time, was Jim Larkin who took him on day trips to visit old friends and places he enjoyed.