Dressage and event rider Lucy Diamond died on 17 February aged 43. She had been suffering from cancer.
After completing Bramham and Chatsworth in 2002, she rode a clear cross-country round at Badminton in 2006 on Carousel VI (see video below) before turning to pure dressage in later years.
Lucy — wife of the champion farrier Billy Crothers and mother of Emily and Olivia — had been ill for some time.
“It was the horses kept her going and she put up a hell of a fight,” said her friend Kim Moloney, the central regional development officer for British Dressage.
“She’d had the cancer for two and a half years, but she always believed she’d get well again and it helped her through.”
Lucy won the elementary regional championship last summer at Keysoe riding Argentus (pictured, top), just 48 hours after coming out of hospital for treatment.
She was determined to keep competing alongside her treatment, and said it was “a myth” that people couldn’t keep fit while having chemotherapy.
She then went on to a top 10 place at the national championships at Stoneleigh in September 2014, with help from trainer Louise Cassidy.
Argentus is still at Lucy’s home — along with others she acquired and bred — being cared for by her groom Tina.
“Lucy was so ill at the nationals [pictured, above],” added Kim. “But my lasting memory is of her, after finishing her test, putting her thumb up as she rode past all of us in their hospitality marquee.
“She’ll be dearly missed but it’s a relief that she’s not suffering any more.”
Lucy took up dressage seriously in 2013 and qualified to ride at prix st georges (PSG) in a short space of time aboard Saphira.
She had built up a yard, through buying and breeding young horses over the past 10 years — of which she was incredibly proud.
Lucy’s close friend Ginny Loisel added: “Although her treatment over the 26 months after the horrendous prognosis was incredibly tough, the period was also full of great achievements and memories.”
No date has yet been set for the funeral.
