Pilot Profile - Ben Furnival

Marie Bridgwater looks in to the life of hugely talanted young amateur rider Ben Furnival

Amateur rider Ben Furnival has been breaking horses professionally since he was 14 and has since gained valuable years of experience within the racing industry for several trainers. Ben is a proved horseman, guilty of an excess of natural talent. Thoughts of ‘why buy a cake when you have all the ingredients for what could be the finest bakery?’ must have filled his head. At just 20, he decided to set up his own equine business. His small friendly yard based on the Shropshire / Powys border excels in correcting difficult and problem horses, breaking and pre-training of national hunt, flat and point to point horses.

Last season Ben finished 3rd in the novice riders championship in the North West area. Granted his business comes first, but Ben aims to progress from last season and one day fulfil his need for adrenalin by having a mount in the illustrious Foxhunters at Aintree.


M - Are you from a racing background?
B - My Gran was head girl for various trainers back in the day, and my Mum did show hunters, working hunters, and breakers. I have been riding since I can remember and have been involved with horses since a very young age, Mum and Dad bought me a pony because I kept trying to climb onto the breakers and young horses mum was riding, it’s in my DNA.

M - When was your first ride in public?
B - My first ride in public was on Smart Orange at Weston Park. I can’t remember when but it was about 4 or 5 seasons ago, it wasn’t very successful!

M - Do you reflect on rides and think “I should have done better“?
B - I look back on every ride and think there’s stuff I could do better. There are always areas I can improve on, mainly tactically. For example, Flemensgold at Chaddesly Corbett, it’s the only horse I’ve ever ridden that’s fallen....so maybe, maybe not. I wouldn’t make a mistake like that ever again. There’s always another day.

M - Which trainers do you mainly ride for?
B - I generally ride for Caroline Robinson, Roy smart and Phil Jones as well as having five in training at home for various owners. I am always hungry for spare rides though.

M - Which are your favourite courses and why?
B - I love the chase course at Aintree. The fences are big but very well presented and get the horses jumping. I really like Bangor as a rules and point to point course. As a rules course it’s a really nice place to ride and the fences jump really well. As a Point to Point course it’s nice to have all the facilities of a proper racecourse and horses always go well for me there, and obviously Eyton - on – Severn. It’s a nice course to ride, people always moan about the ground but I like the place. Lads tend to be in a rush there and you can end up trapping along a bit too early but I always look forward to going back.

M - What music’s on your iPod?
B - I haven’t got an iPod but on my USB in the car I’ve got a random mix. I’d say fairly electric tastes, like The Killers, La Roux, Snow Patrol, Pendulum etc.

M - What has been either your own funniest incident, or the most amusing thing you have seen or heard at the races?
B - Well, at Eyton - on - Severn last year a horse tipped itself up in a lorry and got wedged between the partitions, everyone was just watching and my mates Ben Fairgrieve and his brother James parted the crowd and Ben pulled the partition out of the lorry and James pulled the horse over so it could get up. They are huge!

M - Who do you admire in racing?
B - Ruby Walsh for sure. He gets anything to jump and yet looks like he’s doing nothing. Paddy Brennan because he just keeps on kicking and driving & Edna Bolger just for being able to get horses right to run in all the cross country races. If she can’t get it to jump it won’t.

M - In what other sports do you participate?
B - Team Chasing... anything fun that will give me an adrenaline rush. I don’t get chances to do much because I’m so busy at home breaking horses. I am just an adrenaline junkie so anything that will get my blood up. Also I try and do as much hunting as possible. I can ski and I’m pretty good at that, and enjoy it. I have bungee jumped, but it’s fairly boring, also I’ve zorbed too.

M - Your business is obviously your priority but do you aim to improve on last season?

B - Yes definitely, I always want to improve my riding and get more winners. I also hope to improve the string we’ve got in training. I would be very disappointed if the maidens don’t lose their maiden tag. We’ve got a very exciting Karinga Bay filly who will possibly be targeted at a bumper over the summer.

M - Do you struggle with your weight?
B - Yes and no. Because Point to Point weights are higher than National Hunt I have to carry a bit of lead. I can do 10 stone easy enough and I could do light weights if I watched what I ate and had a smaller saddle.

M - If you could change one rule in Point to Points what would it be?
B - I think it would be good for novice riders to get a claim in points. Not to the same extremes as under rules but for example a 5lb or 7lb claim until you’ve ridden 3 winners or so. Riders are still novice until they’ve ridden 3 winners anyway so a claim would be easy enough to instigate and would help lighter jockeys like myself.

For more information on Ben and his business ‘Severn Equus’ please visit www.severnequus.com

Marie Bridgwater