01. Pippa Funnell

Role:  

Trainer and Mentor for Wesko Foundation, Patron for World Horse Welfare

In 2003, Pippa Funnell MBE  became the first person to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing with consecutive wins at Rolex Kentucky, Badminton and Burghley. She also won Badminton in 2002 and 2005, two Individual golds (1999–2001) and three team golds (1999–2003) at the European Championships. Pippa is a three-time Olympic medallist, winning team silver in 2000 and 2004, and an individual bronze in 2004. She also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Pippa remains at the top of the sport, and is a renowned producer of young horses from the Billy Stud ( https://thebillystud.co.uk/ )with her husband William Funnell. Pippa’s horses have included Supreme Rock, Primmore's Pride, Sir Barnaby, Bits and Pieces, Walk on Star, and Ensign, and more recently, Redesigned, Billy Beware, Billy the Biz, Billy Llandretti, Mirage D`Elle, Billy Cuckoo and Sandman7. Her current horses are listed in the horse section of this website. Pippa became European Young Rider Champion in 1987 after successfully competing on Sir Barnaby at Bialy Bor, Poland. In 1999, Pippa became European Champion at Luhmühlen riding Supreme Rock and again on the same horse in 2001 at Pau – France. She was a member of the British teams that won silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, bronze at the World Equestrian Games in 2002 both with Supreme Rock, and silver again at the Athens Olympics of 2004, this time with Primmore`s Pride. In addition, Pippa won the individual bronze medal at Athens. In 2003, Pippa became the first rider ever to complete the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing, by adding the Burghley title to her victories earlier in the year at Kentucky and Badminton, to earn a $250,000 bonus from Rolex. The Kentucky and Burghley victories were on Primmore's Pride, while the Badminton victory was on Supreme Rock. Pippa remains one of only two riders to have won the Grand Slam. As a result of her achievements, she was voted Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year 2003 and was in the top five of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Pippa then went to Punchestown in Ireland to defend the individual European title that she had won in 1999 and 2001, winning a bronze medal with Walk On Star and helping the British team to win their fifth successive team title. She also finished the year as the number one ranked rider in the world. In total Pippa has won the Badminton Horse Trials three times: 2002, 2003 and 2005, and has won both the Blenheim and Windsor Horse Trials four times as well, the only rider yet to do so. Primmore's Pride became the 1st horse to win all three major four star titles - Kentucky & Burghley in 2003 and Badminton in 2005, becoming the 1st horse to win its own Grand Slam. In 2010, Pippa won the CCI3* at Bramham International horse trials on Redesigned. They went on to finish 5th as an individual at the 2010 World Equestrian Games. In 2011, she won Barbary CIC3* on Billy Llandretti. In 2013, Pippa won Tattersalls CCI3* with Billy Beware, who finished 6th at his first 4* event at Badminton Horse Trials 2014. On 13 September 2015, Pippa helped GB win Team Silver at Blair Castle aboard Sandman 7. At the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, riding Billy the Biz, Pippa was part of the British team that finished fifth. Pippa won the 2019 Burghley Horse Trials, riding MGH Grafton Street, having led from day one. Alongside her riding career, Pippa has also written an autobiography, a training book (Training The Young Horse) and a series of children's books (watch this space!) For the past 4 years, Pippa has been trainer and mentor for the Wesko equestrian foundation previously know as the Windrush Foundation . You can find out more about the foundation here: https://weskoequestrianfoundation.org.uk/