International Man of Mystery!

Have you ever thought about working with racehorses? Have you wondered what opportunities there may be in the future and what a career with horses could look like?

We caught up with Ben Furnival, racing groom turned Amateur Jockey and Point-to-Point Trainer, or as he is often referred to, International Man of Mystery!

Ben gave us an insight into his life with horses….

“My name is Ben, I'm 36...I think! I have the body of an 85-year-old, or that is what it feels like half of the time!

I started working with horses when I was 14 years old. A career with horses skipped a generation; my Gran worked with Polo ponies, Hunters, Pointers, NH, and Flat horses. She was a very good rider and was respected by the Jockeys. When I took her pointing, I'd have to allow extra time because she knew everyone at the Racecourse!

My parents weren't horsey at all, they both worked in education, and their plans for me did not involve getting into horses!

I started riding out at the age of 15 years for a local Point to Point trainer, and that was the beginning of the end for my formal education! I did finish school, and under duress, I went to college and got a National Diploma in Agriculture, so I'm a fully qualified farmer!”

Setting up Business

“After years of experience as a racing groom and rider, I decided to set up my own business, breaking and schooling horses. When I was 20 years old, I started with only three stables and a part-time job, this built up to 14 boxes and a full-time job – I even had part-time employees and casual weekend staff.

As if running your own business isn't difficult enough, I specialised in breaking and schooling problem and difficult horses! It was very rewarding but there were times I wished I had a yard full of steady cobs! 

I didn't have a menage only a lunging pen. Once they were ready to get on, we were out around the lanes straight away! My top tip for youngsters is not to treat them like a baby. Give them a chance to work things out and go quietly with them, but don't wrap them up in cotton wool, they won't learn anything wandering circles in a school every day.

I also did a lot of pretraining of NH and Flat horses. I helped quite a few with stalls issues. Over the winters when the breaking would quieten down a little, I would train a string of Pointers. The biggest string I had on the go at one point was eight Pointers and two Flat pretrainers, that was a pretty hectic winter!

As well as running my business, I was also riding as an amateur jockey, which meant I was riding out for various trainers most mornings - I'd feed and skip out my lot, go to wherever I was galloping or schooling, and then come home and carry on with all of mine! Racing weekends could be very long especially if we had our runners as well as me riding for other people! But I went to a lot of places, including riding at Aintree over the national fences and on the Mildmay course.

Hmm what else....ah yes I did a lot of team chasing back before it was quite as mainstream as it is now. I rode as part of the Cunning Stunts, and we were pretty good! We were one of the top three Open teams in the country for two or three seasons. “

Did you consider a career away from racing?

“If I hadn't gotten into racing, I'd have possibly gone show jumping, I'm not bad at it apparently, but I haven't got the patience for fences that fall over! Plus, my riding style of riding off the neck strap and buckle end and not grabbing hold of horses isn't an ideal showjumping technique!”

What does life look like now?

“Nowadays, being a groom is on the back burner. I still do a bit for local people and friends, but the agricultural side has taken a more prominent role since COVID-19. Currently, I manage a 200,000-bird chicken farm! It's as glamorous as it sounds, but the hours are flexible so if and when I want to, I can still do horses and it also means I've got more time to spend with my family. I've got a 17-year-old stepdaughter who I sent to Andrew Balding last summer for some work experience, and who may be going to France this summer to ride out, and a 5-year-old daughter who is an absolute menace!”

Advice for the younger generations

“There are 3 things.

Neck Strap!

I would rather ride a high-withered TB bareback and naked - than ride without a neck strap! It does so many things that I could write an entire article about the benefits of using a neck strap, just use one!

Stay in school

I know money seems great when you're 15 or 16 years old, and getting out of school seems perfect, but 20+ years in the industry, and I wish I'd taken as much advantage of those 6-week school holidays as I possibly could. Go travelling, try different things, and have fun. You're a long time working!

Not everything has to be serious all the time.

This goes for you and your horses. I'm laid back and not much gets to me, but if you're the type of person that takes everything to heart, horses might not be for you. Sometimes you're going to get the blame regardless. Suck it up, forget about it and move on. The same with horses, they're not machines, sometimes they just need to have fun and do something different.”

What's on the horizon?

“I'm currently building a new stable yard... it's a big muddy wet hole in the ground at the minute! I took my Point-to-Point riders license back out last season, and we had some fun as a family, I've got a couple of people talking about trying a few homebreds to go pointing next season and I may get the Prosecco and Picnic Syndicate off the ground.

Follow me on Facebook kids, no I'm not cool or young enough to do Tiktok!”

Thanks Ben!

We loved reading Ben’s story and hope you have enjoyed it too.

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