Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 85

EQUESTRIAN - Sponsored by Brickfields and Froghill Tack
to be in the arena, under the
floodlights and getting on with
it. “I’m excited and it can’t
come quickly enough. The
longer the wait, the more time
there is for accidents and that is
so easy to happen. Everything is
going so well, but it makes you
realise that, at the end of the
day, you have to minimise risk.
You must look after yourself
and your horse. I want to get
in there and get stuck in, so I’m
apprehensive on that side, but I
am thoroughly looking forward
to the experience.”
Tim will continue to jump
his other horses in the
meantime, but carefully. “I’m
not paranoid, but anything
can happen at any time, I will
control what I can control,” he
explains. “Yesterday someone
brought me a horse that
wouldn’t jump water. It was
bucking and leaping about and
I said, ’I’m not getting on that.
Not at the moment.’ One of
the top German riders, definitely
a candidate for a gold medal,
broke his leg in two places
schooling a young horse last
week. So no Olympics for him.
These things can happen so
easily.”
Meanwhile, what has Corlato
been up to? “Well, she’s been
swimming this morning,” laughs
Tim, talking about her as if she
has just come back from a lazy
morning with the beautician.
Her competitions have finished
and Tim is just rounding up the
fitness with regular swimming,
two work programmes a day and
some galloping. She will go to
Newmarket for blood tests and
final health checks and then
begin her quarantine period at
Towerlands, close to Heathrow
airport from where the horses
will fly.
Flying? How does that all
happen? “She goes business
class,” laughs Tim. He probably
means ‘business crate’, even
though Corlato isn’t a Frequent
Flyer and doesn’t have many Air
Miles - she’s only flown once.

life

The ‘business crate’ is stalled
for three horses but Corlato will
travel in style with just one other
companion. The horses walk
into the crate as they would a
trailer and then it is lifted with
a forklift truck into the hold
of the plane. Scary stuff, but
a small equine army will be
on hand to look after Britain’s
Business Class equines. A vet, a
groom, and a handler will travel
in the plane with the horses.
Two grooms will be waiting on
the tarmac in Hong Kong, and a
further two will fly out six hours
later.
On the flight, Corlato will
enjoy light snacks of bran and
chaff and a haynet to pick on.
So far she has been a good
traveller, unlike Portofino who
bangs and crashes about.
And, as each day brings the
biggest challenge of Tim and
Corlato’s lives ever nearer, the
reality for Tim is sinking in.
“I went to pick my kit up on
Tuesday and the experience is
very nice,” he says. “It’s not
just riding kit. There’s tons
of stuff I will never wear and
will probably give away, but, I
have got a proper suit. It has
gold braiding in the lining and
a lovely gold badge that says
‘Great Britain Olympic Team
2008’. I’m going to keep that
hanging in the wardrobe and
show it to my grandchildren one
day.”
Tim’s wife Laura and his father
will be watching the action in
Hong Kong. “I would have
loved to have been at the heart
of the games in Beijing,” says
Tim. “Seeing some of the
other sports would have been
wonderful, but quarantine
doesn’t permit the import and
then export of horses out of
China, so Hong Kong it is.”
And we wish him and the rest
of the British Team, the very
best of luck.

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