Matt Hicks' Last CDI Horse, Sheepcote Walnut, Passed Away

Dressage

Great Britain

Sheepcote Walnut, the last horse that British Matthew Hicks competed internationally, has passed away at age 23. The bay gelding succumbed to colic.

Sheepcote Walnut was a 2001 born AES registered gelding by Sheepcote Wurlitzer out of Generosity (by Gordios). He was bred by David Pincus in the U.K and owned by Alison and Terry Hill.

The Beginning

Walnut made his show debut as a 5-year old in 2006 under Lisa Hinton.

In 2009 he was briefly shown by Paul Turner and owner Ali(son) at Elementary level.

Matt Hicks

Matt Hicks took over the ride on Walnut in 2010 after a cold call from Ali who needed help with the horse, as he had developed a trait to park himself in the arena.

“He was very tricky! He knew what he liked and if he didn’t understand something, he just used to down tools and wait until as a rider, you worked out a way of helping him to understand it," Hicks told Horse & Hound. “He had his issues – he had a locking stifle we had to manage, and he didn’t have a great hind leg. Every level I got to, I said to Ali, ’this is probably going to be it’. Then he got to grand prix. And actually, Inter II and grand prix were his most successful levels.”

The pair competed internationally between 2015 and 2018 at medium tour level. They showed in Hickstead, Saumur, and Le Mans, scoring between 60 and 66%.

Nationally he competed in Britain through 2021 when the horse was 20. His last show was in Hickstead in May 2021.

Retirement

He spent his retirement at Happy Horse Retirement home in Brecon Beacons as of July 2022.

“He was so much fun to ride,” Matt told H&H. “We didn’t win lots of rugs and sashes, but I learnt so much from him, about training horses and helping people with tricky horses.”

Walnut did not survive a colic attack.

"Incredibly sad and unexpected goodbye to Walnut after he suffered a bout of colic," owner Ali Hill took to Facebook. "He was a truly amazing horse with a huge personality and character to match - keeping us on our toes with his daily cheeky antics. He definitely knew his own mind and in true Walnut style he would have an opinion on most things."

A beautiful tribute to the horse can be read in Horse & Hound.