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Toytown (horse)
Encyclopedia
Chestnut (coat)
Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
gelding
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...
born in 1992, standing at 17hh
Hand (unit)
The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...
and with particularly distinctive markings including a white blaze
Horse markings
Markings on horses usually are distinctive white areas on an otherwise dark base coat color. Most horses have some markings, and they help to identify the horse as a unique individual. Markings are present at birth and do not change over the course of the horse's life...
and white spots, is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
event horse
Eventing
Eventing is an equestrian event comprising dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This event has its roots in a comprehensive cavalry test requiring mastery of several types of riding...
owned and ridden by Zara Phillips
Zara Phillips
Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE is the second child and only daughter of Princess Anne and her first husband Captain Mark Phillips and is 13th in the line of succession to the throne...
. The pair competed together at the highest level of the sport until Toytown's retirement in 2011, accruing 1,421 British Eventing
British Eventing
British Eventing , formerly known as the British Horse Trials Association , is the Great Britain governing body for the equestrian sport of eventing, which combines a single rider and horse pairing competing in dressage, showjumping and cross country. The organisation both regulates the sport and...
points in his career.
Background
Toytown's exact breeding is unknown. "Noddy" was spotted as a 7-year-old novice eventer in 1999 by Zara's father, Mark PhillipsMark Phillips
-Ancestry:-Issue:-Sources:...
, when rider and former owner Meryl Winter went to him for a lesson. Zara bought the horse a few months later after watching him jump with her stepmother and dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
coach Sandy Pflueger
Sandy Pflueger
Sandy Pflueger is an American equestrienne. She has competed successfully in both eventing and dressage, finishing second at the prestigious Badminton Horse Trials in 1981 and competing on the United States Dressage Team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.On 1 February 1997, Sandy Pflueger married...
. Zara has since commented that he "looked a bit like a hat-rack when we first saw him but I got on really well with him".
Despite Winter's description of him as a 'cross country machine', Toytown was far from a natural Eventer, with a particular lack of respect for Show Jumps
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
- at the Windsor CCI**
Concours Complet International
The Concours Complet International and the Concours International Combiné are ratings for the equestrian sport of eventing, given by the international governing body for the sport, the FEI....
in 2001, Zara and Toytown entered the ring in the lead only to finish out of the running with six fences down and 25 penalty points.
However, Zara and Toytown's hard work with Mark Phillips in the Show Jumping ring and Pflueger in the Dressage arena put paid to these teething problems, and the pair's first real success came with the Young Rider title at Bramham Horse Trials
Bramham Horse Trials
Bramham Horse Trials is one of the UK's premier three day events, taking place every June on the Lane Fox's Bramham Park Estate, near Leeds in Yorkshire...
in 2002, followed by individual silver at the 2002 Young Riders European Championships in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
This success was cemented in their CCI**** debut at Burghley Horse Trials
Burghley Horse Trials
The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September...
in 2003. Competing at this level for the first time, over a particularly challenging course, Zara and Toytown found themselves in the lead after the cross country and missed overall victory by just one fence, losing to then-world number one Pippa Funnell
Pippa Funnell
Pippa Funnell MBE is an equestrian sportswoman, regarded as one of three-day eventing's sporting elite...
on her way to the Rolex Grand Slam
Grand Slam of Eventing
The Grand Slam of Eventing, sponsored by Rolex, consists of three of the top CCI**** eventing competitions in the world. To win the Grand Slam, a rider must consecutively win all three events, although they are permitted to ride different horses in each competition...
.
Far from being an easy horse to ride, Zara comments that he "doesn’t like performing these days unless it really matters" (something he demonstrated at the 2007 Festival of British Eventing when, according to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's equestrian correspondent Clare Balding
Clare Balding
Clare Balding is a BBC sports presenter, journalist and jockey.-Early life:In 1989 and 1990, Balding was a leading amateur flat jockey and Champion Lady Rider in 1990....
, he "went complete bonkers and started rearing" during the Dressage), and that "Toytown, almost always, has to do something to show he is in control".
Olympic contender
A leg injury following Burghley forced Toytown out of contention for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the entire 2004 season, and an injury during final preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics forced the pair to concede their place in the British team.Retirement
Zara Phillips officially retired Toytown from competition on the final day of the 2011 Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe ParkGatcombe Park
Gatcombe Park is the private country home of Anne, Princess Royal, situated in England between the Gloucestershire villages of Minchinhampton and Avening, five miles south of Stroud and around six miles north of Highgrove House, the country residence of Prince Charles.The house and farming estate...
. The popular gelding was paraded to fans and spectators in the main arena before leaving for the rolling Gloucestershire countryside of the Gatcombe Estate.
Major Accomplishments
2007- Team gold at the European Eventing Championships at Pratoni del Vivaro, Rome, Italy.
2006
- Individual gold and team silver at the World Equestrian GamesWorld Equestrian GamesThe FEI World Equestrian Games are the major international championships for equestrianism, and administered by the Fédération Equestre Internationale . The games have been held every four years, halfway between sets of consecutive Summer Olympic Games, since 1990...
in AachenAachenAachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
2005
- Individual and team gold at the European Eventing Championships at BlenheimBlenheim Horse TrialsThe Blenheim Horse Trials is an annual international three day event held in the park of Blenheim Palace, at Woodstock, England. It is rated CCI*** ....
- 2nd Luhmuhlen Horse TrialsLuhmühlen Horse TrialsThe Luhmühlen Horse Trials are an annual equestrian eventing competition held in Luhmühlen, Salzhausen, Germany. Riders compete at the highest level: the CCI****...
(CCI****)
2003
- 2nd Burghley Horse TrialsBurghley Horse TrialsThe Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September...
CCI****
2002
- Individual Silver at the European Young Riders Championship