Rider Phoebe Buckley tells H&H about the diminutive mare who gallops and jumps for fun.
Fact file
Stable name: Frosty
Age: 17
Height: 14.3hh without shoes, 15hh on tiptoes
Breeding: 7â„8 thoroughbred by Java Tiger out of Hopper VII
Rider: Phoebe Buckley
Owner: Polly Taylor, who has gifted her to Phoebe
Groom: at three-day events it was Simon Grieve, but usually Phoebe
Discipline: formerly eventing now team chasing and hunting
Best result: 16th at Burghley in 2008
Four things you didn’t know…
1 It had been the ambition of Val Gingell, Little Tiger’s breeder and one of Phoebe’s mentors and supporters, to own a four-star horse.
“The irony is the only one she’s had – Little Tiger – she sold because she thought she was too small,” says Phoebe.
2 Little Tiger is allergic to many things, including dandelions, dust mites and washing powder. She has to wear a fly sheet for most of the year to stop her nibbling herself.
3 While she was eventing, Little Tiger would never let Phoebe catch her. “I suspect she associated me with dressage, which she hated. These days, she thinks there’s a chance we might be going hunting, so I’ve become more acceptable and it is worth a gamble for her.”
4 During her eventing career, she always went best jumping out of deep ground – “the wetter the better“, says Phoebe.
To read the full interview with Phoebe Buckley about Little Tiger read the 17 May issue of H&H
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