“THERE,” says Jean Mitchell, proudly passing over a photo of a young Joseph O’Brien and Game-spirit Wilkie at Tattersalls in 2007 when the future Irish Derby-winning trainer is talking to his younger brother Donnacha in a preview of future parade ring and gallops conversations since.
For the redoubtable Tattersalls International Horse Trials event director, this snapshot is one of many highlights since she joined their team in 2006 at George Mernagh’s request. “Could anyone say no to George? Some 13 years later, I’m still there trying to run it the way George wanted it run. I was blessed to be able to work with him to get the event off the ground.”
Jean, awarded an MBE in 2003 for her services to equestrianism, grew up in Castlereagh. She watched show ponies, ridden by Drexel and Zelda Gillespie being lunged on nearby rugby grounds by their groom, “who asked me if I’d like a ride on one of the ponies” and got “totally hooked” after lessons at Norwood Tower riding school.
The young Belfast schoolgirl kept her first pony at a yard off the Sandown Road where Heather Coyle’s mother, Doreen Gahan, produced show jumpers. “Doreen’s mother, Edith Harris, was very big into show horses and there are still trophies at Balmoral in her name.
“Because my father knew her father, Sergeant Harris, who rode at the Queen’s coronation as a Northern Ireland policeman, he got all the trappings that his horse wore.”
A resourceful Jean borrowed those royal souvenirs for the fancy dress class at the local Ulster Riding & Driving Club show. “I went as the drum horse on Shandy, my coloured pony, with all this fantastic equipment and the reins attached to my feet!”
Instructing didn’t appeal to this North Down Pony Club and Capall Riding Club member. “I was never very keen on teaching because I never liked to say things twice!” Instead, Jean studied Poultry Management at Loughry College.
Her first job was advising poultry customers of agricultural and seed merchants ET Green in Belfast. Moving to Hillsborough, where she has lived for over 40 years, Jean bought a cottage and six acres. “I put up a broiler house for 10,000 chickens at a time to supply Moy Park, then later converted the broiler house to eight stables.”
MADRIGAL
Amongst her broodmare trio was Madrigal, by Blue Cliff. “Patricia Aldwell bred her. Bunleckie [Madrigal’s dam] was only about 15.1, we both hunted her with the Ward Union and the Co Down Staghounds. I was hunting mad.”
Jean bought the three-year-old Madrigal at the famous Banbridge Horse Sales, where “many top show jumpers were sourced” and broke her in.
She handed over Madrigal’s reins to riders, including Edwin Bryson and Eric Smiley. “I love doing the homework but I didn’t want to compete. Madrigal’s first competition rider was Hugh Suffern and he brought her right up to Badminton.”
After her retirement from eventing, Madrigal competed in side-saddle and dressage classes with Jacqui Coburn and Vanda Stewart. “She won many championships. She had three foals, by Wrens Hill and Hildenley. One three-year-old won the young horse championship at Saintfield Show the same day as Madrigal won the side-saddle class. I have a lovely photograph of her hunting hounds when she carried the huntsman of the Co Down Staghounds, Malcolm Wing.”
A pleasant duty was at the 1982 World show jumping Championships where, riding Madrigal, the flagbearer led the German team, including eventual champion Norbert Koof with Fire 2. “One of my cousins was the horse’s groom.”
SADDLE UP
Headhunted by Spillers, Jean’s involvement with “the first people to do horse and pony cubes” and the Golden Saddle Equitation scheme began until it wound up in 2004 after it had run its course.
“William Micklem started the awards in 1977 and I went on the committee in 1984. It was a very special thing with the final held originally at McKee Barracks, then at Iris Kellett’s and later at Dragonhold, in Co Wicklow, with Eric Smiley taking over from William.
“I became the liaison officer between the committee and parents. Parents were more understanding then but they would still want to know why a B [score] wasn’t an A! For one sponsor – Spillers – to stay for 27 years was quite unique and the examiners were a Who’s Who, everyone from Liz Edgar to Ginnie Elliot, Mark Todd and Di Lampard.”
Her own international career took off after she brushed up on her French, “as it was the principal language of the FEI for years” and undertook her first FEI Eventing Judges course, held at Le Lion d’Angers, in 1981.
“I was a scorer for a long time and it’s safe to say there wouldn’t be any jobs in eventing I haven’t done, including cleaning the loos. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do what I wouldn’t do.”
The original Irish Olympic Horse Society, its current successor and the Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) were just some organisations Jean made her mark on.
“Michael Stone and I were a great duo when he was in the EFI. We went to an FEI meeting at Schiphol Airport where we asked for the minimum cross-country weight of 11’11 to be taken away, otherwise someone was going to be trapped under a horse with lead weights.”
In a further move, the pioneers introduced the “holding box” at horse inspections and while Chair-man of the FEI Pony Committee, Jean introduced pony measuring. “We had ‘horse-ponies’ but when we brought measuring in, not a single over-height pony came that year.”
In 1981, she and Judy Bradwell were the first women judges at an FEI European Championship, at Punchestown. “Kitty Keys, from Londonderry, was the course designer at Punchestown for many years, she was a top rider herself. We ran a lot of things at Necarne, including the Pony Europeans in the same year as Punchestown.
“We had Noel Edmonds and his wife at Necarne where his daughter was competing in the dressage. Mahons hotel in Irvinestown did a wonderful meal with food from all the different countries and the teams paraded through the town. There was ‘Mr Blobby’ [Edmonds] up the lampost taking photos!”
She praises the role played by David Morrison at Necarne Castle and the Fermanagh District Council’s Gerry Burns. “When it rained you may as well have been riding in a bog, so I said unless you make the cross-country and steeplechase all-weather, we can’t run this again and fair play to them, they did both.
“The year we hosted the Young Rider championships, the heavens opened the night before the cross-country, so I said to Jack Le Goff; ‘How about running the show jumping today and the cross-country tomorrow?’
“David Christie, the farm manager, said if we get three hours drying, the water level will go down. We had to put in an early morning call to the FEI. Everybody was happy and that was the year Sherelle Duke won. We had some fantastic years at Necarne. It’s such a shame that all our equipment, including judges boxes, is all locked up as they want to sell the place as a going concern, but nothing has happened.”
Another major coup was the 2003 European championships at Punchestown. “We ran the World Endurance Championship, too, along with Avril Doyle and Tim Phillips.”
Jean Mitchell with fellow Sydney Olympics judge Brian Ross (USA) in 2000
OLYMPIC YEARS
“My first visit to the Olympics was at Bromont [where Montreal’s equestrian events were held] in 1976 when I flew out with some friends. The Volkswagen RV they had hired, with its Irish and British flags, sparked off a security scare when they returned after their cross-country walk to find the Canadian Mounties standing beside the seemingly abandoned vehicle. Of course Princess Anne was competing and we thought we’d be in the clink!”
Another memorable experience was the 1990 FEI World Championships at Stockholm. “Ninnie Odenrick offered it to me and I jumped at the chance.” Did she have the fence where the Northern Ireland-bred Murphy Himself put in his infamous bounce through a combination? “No. Poor Joan Keogh got that fence! I got the Lapland fence, with a fire, reindeer steaks and hot coffee. There was even a live reindeer in a pen beside the fence but it jumped out! So they put a life-size model there instead.”
Adelaide, Badminton, Burghley and Luhmühlen number amongst the events she has officiated at. “One year at Badminton, I was informed that the famous Bill Roycroft wanted to speak to me, so I went in fear and trepidation!
“He said ‘I just want to congratulate you that was the best horse inspection I’ve been at, quick and to the point’. Those wee things, when people say thank you, make it all worthwhile.”
Jean was often consulted after events such as Fair Hill, Kentucky and Melbourne to review the host country’s dressage videos and scores. “The very first one was Kentucky. Bruce Davidson came in, threw down his dressage scoresheets for three horses, and asked ‘Jean, at this stage of my life, could my riding only be worth a six?’ I remember those sharp blue eyes looking at me but I said ‘If that’s the way you rode, then you deserve a six!’ It turned out it was another judge Brian Ross and not me.
“It’s very important not to kowtow. I did my job to the best of my ability and it wouldn’t have worried me if I wasn’t invited back somewhere but there was never an event that I wasn’t. The same as when there was 138 horses in the one-star at Fontainebleau one year. You have to give the 138th horse the same attention as the first.”
Jean’s scribe at French events was usually Jacqueline Legendre, who had been one of the first organisers at Saumur. “She has perfect English which is very important when judging dressage. A most lovely lady, her son Edouard events and she does the English commentary at the Cadre Noir displays.”
SURPRISE
“Patrick Carew was the president of the Barcelona Olympics ground jury and I had said to Patrick several times: ‘If you need a writer, I’m here!’, but he said no, the test event scribes were brilliant.”
As Kitty Keys, Gillian Kyle and a couple of others arrived at the stadium the next morning they heard Mike Tucker announcing for Angela Tucker, Judy Bradwell and Jean Mitchell to report to the dressage arena immediately.
“The scribes couldn’t even get the numbers right, let alone the comments. I’ll never forget the look on Eric Smiley’s face as he came down the centre line on Enterprise, and there in the judge’s box was Patrick Carew and Jean Mitchell!”
What was judging at the Sydney Olympics like? “A huge responsibility, absolutely but not so bad if you have a good, knowledgeable Ground Jury with you. To me, judging the team competition is more important because the Olympics is a team event.”
One of Jean’s first steps after Sydney was applying for an Irish passport as GBR appeared after her name in the results. “I asked the FEI’s Catrin Norinder why and it turned out to be because I came into Australia on a British passport. I thought ‘They’ll not do that to me again’ because that’s the one thing we are [Irish], when it comes to horses.”
Jean’s love of travel dovetailed neatly with her overseas engagements. “Early on, I decided that seeing the inside of airports and buildings is not a sensible thing to do, so I started to stay on for a couple of days afterwards at my own expense.”
Travelling down the Grand Canyon by raft with David O’Connor’s mother Sally was one excursion. “She wanted to go down the Canyon by mule, I took one look at the wooden saddles and said I’d like to live a little longer!”
TRAVEL BLOG
More travel memories include being shown around Paris, including the 400 horses at the Garde Republicane stables by Eric Lieby, attending a party with the Danish royal family, arranged by Lykke Obel, flying around Australia in a private jet, her first fishing trip in Taupo, New Zealand and a mounted guard of honour reception party in Jaipur, India.
“Mercedes Campdera is a great friend in Mexico so she arranged for me to visit the Mayan country with all the pyramids. People love to show you around and it just makes such a difference with a local.”
She also doubles up as a designated driver. “I like my food but not alcohol,” and so Jean’s favourite tipple of Coca-Cola was dubbed ‘Texas Beaujolais’ by a nonplussed French host.
Radnor stands out as another memorable fixture: “The standard of hospitality was very special,” and closer to home, Tyrella “the saviour of the eventing calendar in the northern region” and the former Rademon are two favourite northern fixtures.
“Rademon was an absolutely fantastic two-day event, everyone came there and Yogi Breisner won a class one year.
“When Thomas Duggan was starting to put Millstreet together he came up to Balmoral to discuss their plans. I must say the Duggans are the most amazing family. Everything they’ve done, they’ve done well and for events to be family-funded, that is unique in this day and age.”
The International Eventing Forum at Hartbury’s is one more start-up project Jean championed. “I started off the Spillers Eventing forum with John Bowen in 2004. He had been to the Global Dressage Forum in Holland and he thought it was time we had something like that.”
Eric and Sue Smiley, with the invaluable assistance of Dora Beacom, organise this annual February event. “It’s a real start of season get-together.”
TATTERSALLS
“Tattersalls is a dream team, very much so. There’s a committee of about 30 people and that committee meets up twice a year. And of course this year everyone’s rallying around Jonty and the family after his accident.”
Jean also does dressage commentaries, going out on headsets from Burghley and at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
New technology is constantly rolled out at the Meath event. “Rechenstelle and Peter Janssen, of ClipMyHorse.de fame, do our scoring system. We also have Rory O’Doherty to do the live streaming on television which was brilliant this year, and Stefan Loosen for the electronic scoring.
“Because Tatts is a sales venue, there are TV monitors in every barn and building so the girls in the office can watch the live streaming.
“I can be wherever I want to be during the event. I share an office with David Lee, the assistant event director although I like to have a buggy and be out. Liz Inman, the Burghley event director, comes over for Tatts and I tell her she only runs a Pony Club event with just 80 horses!”
There are sobering memories too, such as an email that arrived in the Tattersalls inbox one day from an 18-year-old Hannah Francis.
“It was on her bucket list to ride at an international event and wear the Union Jack, so she was our test rider in 2016. She delivered a speech like you have never heard in your life at the welcome reception when she spoke about cancer research and over €20,000 was raised for her charity at Tatts that year.
“Hannah had quite an impact on the world and her family are still raising money. We like to keep her memory,” says Jean, recalling how Hannah passed away shortly afterwards.
Bay My Hero stands out as Jean’s most memorable horse. “He won everything here from one-star upwards and even won a young horse qualifier. And then there was the doyen of course builders in Tommy Brennan. “His Punchestown courses were legend. He was a genius as a course designer.”
How does this whirlwind unwind from her hectic schedule? “Soaps! I record them all: Corrie, Emmerdale, Eastenders and Neighbours to watch when I can. I like the Antiques Roadshow too and enjoy knitting nice little blankets for premature babies.”
And while Michael Buble comes to town today, Jean is waiting to see another musical phenomenon.
“We’re André Rieu groupies! Dora Beacom, Catherine Abbott and myself. We went to see him in Maastricht last year and already have our tickets booked for the Odyssey in November.”
Jean Mitchell has been on quite an epic odyssey of her own.