“Mark and I would like to thank Andrew and Wiggy and all the staff at Westwood for looking after him so well over the past 10 years. Avebury will continue to live at Westwood – a home he knows and loves.”
The grey son of Jumbo was bred by Andrew Nicholson out of a thoroughbred mare, Memento (registered racing name Bairn Free) who Andrew evented briefly before she had developed a cataract in one eye.
Andrew broke in Avebury, and then sold him to go showjumping. He was successful in that discipline as a five-year-old, and then Wiggy bought him back and evented him in his six-year-old year, winning a novice event at Gatcombe on him.
Andrew explained:
“Rosemary Barlow wanted a new horse, so I said to her that I thought I knew of one… Wiggy went away for a few days, so I sneaked him up to the gallops to see what he could do. I was quite impressed, so I suggested Rosemary bought him for me to ride.”
In their first season together in 2007, Andrew and Avebury won the CCI* at Tattersalls and three intermediate classes, as well as finishing second in the British Novice Championships at Gatcombe and fourth in the World Young Horse Championships at Le Lion d’Angers.
