Have you got a ‘lucky’ piece of horsey clothing?

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of showjumping. Every Sunday I loaded two horses into the horse trailer and headed off with my mother to local shows and gymkhanas. It was a lot of fun and if one horse knocked a fence, there was always the chance that the other one would go clear. Very rarely did they both go round without fault on the same day!

I remember one day, however, when they both went clear and, because the prizes for the grade I jumped for younger horses wasn’t decided against the clock, we would all get a red rosette. Sometimes as many as eight or ten horses with double clears would line up in front of the Judge’s box. This particular day there was also a trophy on offer. The one who drew the rosette with an ‘x’ on the back won the trophy. I was wearing my lucky pink shirt and was the one who took home the trophy. Huge excitement! From then on I wore my lucky pink shirt until it literally wore out. I remember the panic on the day it ripped across the back. I would NEVER be able to jump a clear round again!

I overcame this dependency and went on to jump more clear rounds but I never let myself get so superstitious again. There are enough things to worry about when getting horses to shows instead of fussing about the colour of my shirt!