Laura Collett has announced the death of one of her most consistent event horses, Mr Bass, who was known as Chuck at home. He was 18 years old.

A statement on Laura’s social media pages on 19 February read: “Last night I had to say the hardest goodbye. THANK YOU for all the memories “Chuck”.”

Laura produced Chuck from the beginning and he quickly became known for his jumping prowess, regularly finishing on his dressage score.

Laura said that Chuck was “the best cross-country horse she’ll ever ride” – he only faulted eight times during this phase from his 62 cross-country starts.

His first big success came when winning the seven-year-old World Championships at Le Lion D’Angers in 2015 and then finished second at the Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S in 2016.

He was second when making his five-star (then CCI4*) debut at Luhmühlen in 2018 and finished in the top 10 at four-star level 16 times from 26 starts – a testament to his consistency.

Chuck, who was owned by owned by Keith Scott, Nick How and Laura, sadly sustained a tendon injury having jumped clear across country at Badminton in 2019.

He went on to make a full recovery and returned to the top of the sport, finishing in the top five at CCI4*-S level and 16th in the five-star at Pau. However, the injury recurred and he was retired from eventing at the age of 13 in 2021, having helped the British team to victory in the CCIO4*-S Nations Cup in Aachen, where they finished fourth individually in September 2021.

Mr Bass underwent rehabilitation for his injury and he lived out his days at Laura’s Gloucestershire base.

Image © Getty.

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