Hello.

Guitar Pete is delighted to have been invited to become an ambassador for Wetherby Racecourse under the ROR “Horses for Courses” scheme. He is no stranger to Wetherby having won and been placed there several times.

When I was first offered “Pete”, I was dithering about taking on a retired 11 year old grey racehorse. The very next morning I rode one of our hunters around the farm on exercise and saw this Blackthorn tree in flower which immediately made my mind up.

The strange thing is that I have never seen that tree flower like that either before or since, and it only flowered like that for two days before the rest of the blossom came out and the shape of the horse disappeared.

 

Pete came to live with us in Spring 2021 after his last race in March of that year. It was announced on television that he had gone to a 5 star home. Imagine my horror when within 5 weeks of arriving he was kicked in the field and ended up in Rainbow Veterinary Hospital with suspected infection in the bone. Thankfully he made a full recovery and spent the rest of the summer out at grass.

Our plan was to gradually introduce him to hunting. I expected to be taking him quietly at the back with a steady companion for at least a season. How wrong can you be?! He took to it like a duck to water from day one, needed no retraining and has never looked back.

 

In the seasons 2021/22 and 2022/23 he had 77 days out with hounds, ridden by myself and our three daughters. He is generally well behaved but is currently in disgrace after bucking me clean off on the tarmac road last week.

In the summer months we have done some flat work and showjumping training. We also attended a few shows. I will tell you all about this in Chapter 2.

Can I just sign off today by paying tribute to Guitar Pete’s owner Mrs Sloan and her husband, Joe along with Nicky Richards and his team. They all gave him the best of care throughout his illustrious racing career, and only wanted to make sure that he had a happy retirement. I would like to thank them for giving us the opportunity to have him which is both an honour and a privilege.  Laurence.