Monkerty Tunkerty

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF monkerty tunkerty

Monkerty Tunkerty retired from racing as a 13-year-old in 2016 after a career in which he won nine races and was placed a further twelve times. Since turning his attention to different disciplines he has been a revelation, enjoying success in showing, dressage and showjumping and was crowned RoR Horse of the Year in 2018.

DOB: 27/05/2003

STABLE NAME: Monkey

RACING TRAINER: Jess Westwood

RETIRED FROM RACING: 2016

CLAIM TO FAME:  He is a horse not only popular on the racecourse but now across the country because of his heart to succeed!

FAVOURITE THING TO DO: Monkey loves to be centre of attention and also have plenty of treats!

TYPICAL DAY: Currently Monkey camps out in the field during the night while it's hot, he then comes in during the day to have breakfast. Then he enjoys a ride and goes to sleep most of the day, & has his pampered groom before he gets turned out again. During the winter months he stays in as he acts like an abandoned horse if he gets turned out in the rain!!  He prefers his five star hotel.

ANNOYING HABITS: He hates road work, he really lives up to his name and is genuinely a Monkey. He has been round every road block thousands of times but he would rather sit on his hind legs and wave to the Devon countryside than to walk sensibly. He is very often lead by the breakers I do on the yard!

FITNESS ROUTINE: Monkey is actually currently being ridden a few times a week to keep him happy and stop him getting jealous of me riding the others in work. He still does a bit of road work and hill work and then the odd schooling session to keep him happy and ticking over. During the competition season he is ridden every day to keep his fitness and muscle tone, this consists of series of work such as hill work, flat work, canva work, pole work, jumping & lunging. He doesn't eat away from home so he needs to have sufficient muscle built to prevent his condition dropping especially for the showing!

COMPETITION: Monkey is very versatile and competes in the Showing Ring at County Level, he competes in dressage at Elementary level, Show jumps & loves a few days Hunting. He would have made the perfect Eventer but I'd decided to look after his legs and compete on the all-weather surfaces when the ground goes hard which show jumping is perfect to switch to from the show ring.

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN RETIREMENT: Monkey has been a super horse Winning several times at many County Shows, He has been placed in the top 10 two years running at Blenheim Dressage Championships. He came 2nd at The British Show Jumping Championships, and has been placed in all 3 disciplines at the RoR Championships held at Aintree Racecourse. He also received the best Veteran Award at Hickstead last year. Monkey won RoR Horse Of The Year in 2018 for his versatility & success with RoR. Last year was capped with a dream of mine with monkey Qualifying for the Horse Of The Year Show, where he came 2nd in The Riding Horse Class Search for a Star.

QUIRKS: Monkey has learnt to blow raspberries with his lips. Being the horse he is he demands attention regularly and blows raspberries continuously when I am showing owners their own horses.......it is quite funny! He also is a big part for my yard as he is "Uncle Monk" to the foals when it's weaning time, as he is perfect to turn out with the foals, but sometimes he acts like the bigger kid.

KEEPING HEALTHY: Monkey has magnetic stable bandages on when he is in at night to keep his legs supported and prevent lymphangitis which he used to suffer from He also has the worst set of teeth given to him with 12 tooth fractures he has had many fillings. He doesn't have any changes & has easy chewing feed to preserve his teeth as best as I can! The polos probably don't help....