Superstar Henderson Milton, the white wonder horse of John Withaker, passed away. Magic Milton was able to handle every single jump and even when he knocked down a pole, everybody knew it was not his fault.
Only eight years old the gelding won his first World Cup competition (Bordeaux 1985), and numerous victories followed shortly after. Twenty five number one positions in big Championships venues, World Cup and Nation Cup events; he won the World Cup Finals and the European Championships twice.
In 1990 Superstar Henderson Milton became World Champion in Show Jumping. In his competition years the white collected a total prize sum of $1,500,000 and after his retirement his wallet kept being filled with appearances at the openings of supermarkets and car companies. Only a while ago Milton had to slow down because of health problems and few days ago he passed away.
Milton (by Marius out of Aston Answer) was bred by the English show jumping rider Carolyn Bradley who raised the happy colt till he was three. Bradley died of a heart attack and through Paul Schockemole, the gelding went into the hands of John Withaker. They formed a dream pair and stole the hearts of thousands equestrian sport lovers. In 1988 Milton and John did not enter the Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, out of protest because Queen Elizabeth's husband refused to enter Carolyn Bradley in the OG of Montreal in 1974.
The popularity of rider and horse grew enormous because of this 'politically correct' action. When John was in a good mood, he would pinch Milton in his back behind the saddle and his trusty mount would perform a levade, a special movement taught to Lippizaners. Milton showed the levade the last time for an audience on his official retirement competition in Goteborg, Sweden.
Reproduced and translated with permission from Hippoline
Images COPYRIGHTED: Dirk Caremans