Mary King's Reading List

"This is a book I have had since I was a teenager, and I now have the updated version. It is a real encyclopedia of equine veterinary problems. Obviously I would ask a vet to come and see a horse, but it is a very good manual to use to get information about what the problem might be. Competition horses – as with any athlete who is very fit – are prone to strains of tendons, muscles and ligaments. That is one of the injuries we always dread our horses getting, because it means time out. “Obviously with horses there is a whole different element involved. You need a lot of luck for it to work.” Horses are very good at having all sorts of things wrong with them, even on a day-to-day basis. Things like treading on a stone and having a bruised sole. They might pick up a virus or infection, or a little cut that leads to an infection. There are all sorts of injuries that can happen to them. That is the end of that, depending on what is causing the lameness. If it has strained a tendon two weeks before the Olympics, that is your chance of the Olympics gone. I am fortunate enough at the moment to have three horses short-listed for the Olympics. Realistically, two are neck and neck as to which one I will ride. Only me and William Fox-Pitt are in that situation. The other top riders all have one horse. You can’t look at it like that. You just have to do your best, prepare to the best of your ability, and what will be, will be. He was the most wonderful horse to have in my career. He gave me my first ever win at Badminton Horse Trials, which is any event rider’s dream. We won it in 1992 and that made him a very special horse for me. That first Badminton win still feels like the highlight of my career, although I did win it again in 2000. And he took me to two Olympic Games. He was an amazing cross country horse, really brave and bold. He was also a very handsome horse, beautiful and proud, and the crowds could recognise him because he had a big white blaze on his face. He had a huge fan club."

"They are all based on the racing world. Dick Francis was a former jockey. Every book I have read of his is very exciting. They always begin with something that captures you right from the start. In this book, the main character is a young author called John Kendall who has agreed to write the biography of a famous horse trainer. When he arrives at the trainer’s house, one of the riders has just been acquitted of the murder of a young woman he had quarrelled with. But after spending time with the trainer and his team, Kendall discovers there is more to the stable girl’s murder than meets the eye. I think it is because he is so knowledgeable about the world he is writing about. Also, the books are very easy to read. They are something you can pick up and you don’t have to concentrate too hard on. There is always lots of mystery and intrigue, and a bit of romance – which all makes for a good mix."

"Yes, my mother read this to me as a bedtime story. As a horsey young girl, it was a wonderful book to have read to you. It was written in 1877, in the first person – which was ground-breaking at the time. “As a horsey young girl, it was a wonderful book to have read to you.” Basically it is the memoir of a horse called Black Beauty, who starts off as a happy young colt on a farm then gets sold to pull cabs in London and isn’t treated very well, but finally ends up in a happy retirement. You fall in love with him at the start of the book, then there is a pulling of heartstrings when he is so badly treated, and then happiness when it turns out alright at the end. Yes, and that was a very good thing."

"He is an absolute legend. We are good friends, and I think he is the better rider than I. Even though last year I finished world number one and he was world number two, I still think he is the better rider. He just is. He has such fantastic affinity with his horses. He is soft and quiet with them. The way he runs his yard and the life his horses have is very natural. They are turned out into the field a lot, and have a lovely time. And it is extraordinary how he performs at top level events. He has success after success. Yes, and if you get all the top riders together we are all similar in a way. Inside, you have a steely determination and the will to win, but you have to be very calm, relaxed and ready to accept what is thrown at you. It is an exciting and dangerous competition to be in, and to cope with that year in and year out you have got to have a calm mind. If you were a nervy sort of person it wouldn’t work at all. That’s right. The horse needs the rider to be calm, relaxed and confident because that will transfer through to the horse. William is very much that. He has an amazing balance, especially considering how tall he is. He is something like six foot five, yet he is always soft and balanced on a horse, and gives them plenty of freedom when they are galloping and jumping. “The horse needs the rider to be calm, relaxed and confident because that will transfer through to the horse.” Some riders are very tight with the reins and hard on their horses, and a bit aggressive. He is not like that at all. Because of that the horses go very sweetly and confidently for him. The team will do things like share views on the cross-country course. When we walk around the course together, we will be discussing how you think a certain fence is going to ride. We will discuss what angle or approach you should have to each fence. Even though you are timed, sometimes we might think it is wise to take a slightly longer option, which might waste a few seconds but will get you a clear round. So we pool our knowledge to get the best for the team. I wasn’t competing when I broke my neck. I was just riding a horse at home in a field. That shows that it is not the competing itself that is dangerous. Whenever you sit on a horse, something could happen. It was a young horse that spooked sharply at a pheasant in a hedge, and I fell off and landed awkwardly. It can be risky because they are animals with minds of their own, and they are unpredictable. But that is what makes it so exciting, so it didn’t put me off."

"This photography book is a wonderful collection of portraits of horses and riders throughout the years. I was given it after he came and photographed me. You have photos from all the different walks of equestrian life – the showing world, racing, eventing and show jumping. I think eventing gives the impression of being an elitist sport, because horses are very expensive to buy and to keep. But to be honest, with the majority of riders it is the horse owners and sponsors who have the money. I don’t own any horses myself. The majority of riders aren’t wealthy, and are very much reliant on their skill and getting a sponsor. Yes, we lived in a rented cottage and my parents weren’t at all horsey folk. We had no land and no money. We lived off my father’s naval pension. And I am not the only one. An awful lot of riders have really struggled from the start, and you need a lot of determination to succeed. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter I think I was born with the drive. I’m not sure where it came from. But in the village I lived in, the vicar had a pony which I used to find fascinating. I spent as much time as I could with the pony and I would go off on my bicycle looking for other ponies in the area, and find out whether I could ride them. Whenever we were driving and I saw a pony, I would ask my parents to stop so I could stroke it. So for some reason I had a connection with horses, and the more I rode them the more I wanted to succeed and become a top rider, which seemed totally impossible. When I first went on the Pony Club coach trip to Badminton at the age of 12, I was absolutely agog at what I was seeing – all the shiny horses and shiny riders. I couldn’t believe that anyone could be so brave as to gallop at these huge jumps, or to manage to get their horses to do all those difficult moves in the dressage. I came away from that event thinking: That is what I would love to do one day."