A fond farewell – Lenamore the legacy
Badminton 2013 marked the official retirement of a truly great representative of the eventing world – the Irish sport horse gelding Lenamore. Ridden by New Zealand’s Caroline Powell, Lenamore holds the record for the number of consecutive Badminton CCI4* completions, at an impressive seven.
Caroline Powell on Lenamore at London 2012 Olympic Games
Lenamore became the most successful British Eventer of all time, after being placed fourth at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in 2011 bring his then total to 2,203 British Eventing points, surpassing the previous title holder, the late Spring Along who, unsurprisingly, was also an Irish sport Horse. In 2010 Lenamore was awarded the Horse Sport Ireland award for “The Competition Horse that Epitomises the Longevity & Durability of the Irish Sport Horse”.
Bred in County Kildare by racings highly successful Ted & Helen Walsh, Lenamore is by the Class 1 Irish Draught Stallion Sea Crest and out of the Thoroughbred mare Karinella, by Valiyar (TB).
Speaking about their decision to breed Irish Sport Horses, Helen says “In the breeding industry it is very important to be versatile and to adjust your breeding operation to suit the current market. Twenty years ago Thoroughbred animals weren’t making much money and we decided to buy some Thoroughbred mares with the aim to breed Irish Sport Horses, as Irish Sport Horses where making good money at the time so it seemed like a sensible idea”. Ted & Helen decided to put these mares in foal, sending them to neighbor Mary McCann’s stallions Sea Crest (ID C1) and Cruising (ISH) with the aim of breeding quality Irish Sport Horse performance horses.
In total Lenamore successfully completed eleven CCI4* events, the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen (Germany), Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and London Olympic Games 2012 where Lenamore and Powell added a team bronze medal to their long list of achievements.
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