Super Nova, Spencer Wilton's British Olympic Team Horse, Passed Away

Dressage

Great Britain

British Olympian Spencer Wilton said goodbye to his career making Grand Prix horse Super Nova. The 22-year old gelding has passed away.

Super Nova was a British Hanoverian by De Niro out of Walpurgis (by Weltmeyer x Golfstrom x Smaragd).

Bred in Britain

He was bred by Mrs Kirby in Wales and sold to the Phillips' family as a weanling. They named him Ruxton Dimitri.

Melanie Phillips started him under saddle and trained him initially, making their first claim to fame at the 2008 British National Championships. Melanie took him for a lesson to Carl Hester and the horse sold to the Olympian and his long-time sponsor Roly Luard. They named him Super Nova.

In 2012 the bay sold again to Jen Goodman for Spencer Wilton to ride. They made their international show debut at small tour in 2013 and won the British Prix St Georges Championships. A year later they moved to Grand Prix level.

British Team Horse

Wilton and Super Nova went on to represent Great Britain at three major championships: the 2016 Olympics, the 2017 Europeans and the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

At the Olympics in Rio they were 21st in the Special and won team silver. At the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg they were 13th in the Freestyle and 4th with the team.

Super Nova got injured in the winter of 2017-2018 and missed the majority of the show season that year.

The gelding returned on the team with the minimum mandatory CDI Grand Prix starts in 2018 (CDI's in Hartpury and Hickstead), yet twice withdrew for the GP Special. At the 2018 World Equestrian Games, their 74.581% Grand Prix score helped Great Britain secure team bronze. They withdrew again for the Special.

Niggling Injuries

Super Nova's career became marred by injury, but also the rider suffered from back problems.

In 2019 the pair withdrew from team contention for the European Championships in Rotterdam to give the then 16-year old horse a quieter year and aim for the 2020 Olympics

They returned to CDI competition in Lier in February 2020 and competed at the 2020 CDI Keysoe in March, their last international before the corona pandemic.

They were entered for the 2021 CDI Wellington Heckfield as their big international come back and first team selection event, but withdrew a few days before due to the rider's back problems. Unfortunately Wilton did not compete at the planned shows in Compiègne nor Le Mans and was therefore not considered for the team.

Retirement

In the summer of 2021 Super Nova was retired from sport at age 18.

Four years later, on 28 March 2025, Wilton announced the passing of "Neville".

"This is a post I’ve always dreaded having to make. It’s come about far earlier than I had ever thought but at the age of 22 our beloved Supa Nova has left us for the big green paddock in the sky. I so wish that Neville could have understood the absolute joy, excitement and at times heartache that he gave myself, his owner Jen Goodman and his totally devoted groom Claire Hinton. He took us all on the journey of a lifetime that we’ll be eternally grateful for."