THE relationship between horse and rider, the relationship between owner and horse, and the relationship between rider and owner. All of these require a huge amount of trust.

It was this trust, which contributed to last year’s fantastic second placed finish at the Badminton Horse Trials for Lesley Crampton’s 14-year-old gelding RCA Patron Saint, ridden by Lucy Latta.

The gelding, originally bought for Lesley’s teenage daughter Alison to compete, eventually found his way into Latta hands, and that, it seems, is where the success story began.

Lesley spoke to The Irish Field earlier this week and described the wonderful journey she has been on with her amazing horse.

“I rode as a child and my parents were very involved back in the 50s, 60s and 70s with horses. My late father, Robert Leslie Johnson, was a Yorkshire man, who came to live in Ireland and he had a great love of horses. He rode a lot and he was very involved in the Tara Harriers Hunt.

“My parents owned racehorses, and they did have some success, but they also had some experience of injury and bad luck that comes along with horse ownership. I remember that as a child, so that made me aware of the pitfalls, as well as the joys.

“Years later, I ended up living on a family farm in Co Kildare and my daughter Alison started off with the ponies, as they do. She got interested in eventing, we knew nothing about it, but a friend of ours mentioned that Joseph Murphy had moved near us for the year and we got in contact to see if she could go for lessons with him.

“We discovered the horse she had wasn’t really an event horse, he’d come off the hunting field and was very good cross-country, but when it came to it, he didn’t want to do anything else.

“We ended up going then, through Joseph, to Michael Ryan and we bought a lovely horse named Ballylynch Sky High and he was great for her. So, it was really through her that we began to be dragged into this world of eventing.

Journey begins

“Unfortunately, that horse broke down. We did get him back to hacking, but not much more than that, so we began to search for her next horse.

“Sam Watson was teaching Alison at that time and we went to Barnadown with him, looking at some horses; Sam had earmarked two or three for Alison and she tried them and, between the two of them, they decided the one they liked was RCA Patron Saint.

“There was where we started our journey with him. Alison was doing a full-time degree in Trinity at that time, and it began to take its toll, going up and down to Dublin.

“She discovered that bringing on a young horse, and to be safe, you need to be on him four times a week at least. She just wasn’t getting the opportunity to ride him.

“So, there I was, with this lovely horse, which I had become emotionally tied to at this stage; he has the most beautiful eyes, he would melt your heart with his personality.

“So, I went, almost tongue in cheek, to our friends Charlie and Yvonne Latta and asked, ‘Do you think Lucy would be interested in taking him on?’

“I always thought that he (RCA Patron Saint) would be more suited to a female rider, and would do better with a rider that could concentrate on him, as opposed to a yard with 15 or 20 horses.

“So, I put it to Lucy and she said ‘sure send him down’. He went down and, in the back of my mind, I thought they would work with him and then someone might be interested in buying him.

“Lucy started eventing him and she began to realise that his cross-country was very good. She would ring me after an event and say ‘that was a lovely spin he gave me, he listened to absolutely everything I told him to do, everything was right about it’.

“From there, they continued on and he came fourth in a two-star in Millstreet and I couldn’t believe it, I was stunned.

Climbing the ranks

“Then, she said she was going to move him up to three-star and I thought she was mad. Off they went and they won a three-star in Ballindenisk. Each time, she would say ‘let’s nudge him up a little further’.

“The amount of work that Lucy puts in is phenomenal. Her extended family are all involved and they have been instrumental and so helpful with him. She took him on when she was just 20 years old, so they have come on and learned together. Lucy is petite, and he is quite a big horse at 16.3hh, so they are not a pair you would have ideally put together.

“All the way along, I have listened and valued her opinion. I also go along to her training sessions and it’s been amazing to watch them grow together. He was so green a few years ago, to see him now, it’s been amazing.

“It really is down to the love and care that is given to him, that is why he has done so well; and that is very important to me. He is a very sensitive animal, and Lucy understands that.

“He has slipped in through the back door, in a way. In 2023, we went to Blair with him and he did really well, I think he was fourth. We were elated with that.

“I can see the trust he has in Lucy, and I have trust in her. We never set out to do any of this. At the end of 2023, Lucy was setting out her calendar and she said ‘and we will aim for Badminton’... I thought she was joking!

“Along the way, Lucy had help from Caroline Moore with her show jumping, also Lucy’s first cousin Elizabeth Power has been such a help improving his dressage, she has so much experience. It all just seemed to click into place.

“I always say to Lucy, and this is the most important thing to me, when she goes out cross-country I say ‘please come home safe’.

“In Badminton, I think she walked the cross-country track eight times, that’s how dedicated she is. The focus was huge.

“The one thing I didn’t know in Badminton, was that when she went out on the cross-country, she was going to go for it. When I walked it, I thought ‘how is she going to get him round over these massive jumps?’ Little did I know what she had planned.

“I shook like a leaf the entire time they were out on the course. It was an incredible thing, it really was.

“He looks fantastic at the moment. He is so well looked after. So many people look after him so well. Whenever we talk about him, there is a smile on everyone’s face. Everyone involved is so proud of him and Lucy and all they’ve achieved.

“I have another horse, a seven-year-old I have a half-share in with Sam Watson’s wife Hannah, named Ballybolger Goldman (Tullabeg Fusion x Warcraft Kate). Sam thinks a lot of him, so hopefully he will be one for the future.

“He’s (RCA Patron Saint) back in work, having had a break. Lucy is very careful with him, she picks and chooses her competitions carefully, always putting the horse’s welfare first.

“The aim this year is Badminton, and depending on how that goes, hopefully the Europeans.”