Farewell to Welham

Keeley Durham’s show jumping superstar Welham has sadly died at the age of twenty-eight.

Welham’s career was packed full of success and triumph and he can lay claim to having won some of the top competitions in the world. Bought by Keeley as an eight year-old, the dark bay gelding by Hayrick amassed a whopping £568,000 winnings during his thirteen year career.

Welham started his show jumping career with his owner Keeley Durham and very soon showed his potential for top class competition when the pairing won the 1991 National Young Riders Championship at the Horse Of The Year Show. The following year they were part of the British Gold medal winning Team at the Young Rider European Championships in San Remo and in 1993 made their senior Nations Cup debut in Prague. Keeley recognised that Welham had the talent to go further and dared her mum to ask John Whitaker if he would take over the ride…….. and the rest, as they say, is history!

John took over the ride on Welham in 1994 and it was immediately apparent that a world class partnership was about to blossom. Amongst their many triumphs include the Aachen Grand Prix, the Dublin Grand Prix, the British Grand Prix at Hickstead, the King George V Gold Cup, the Millstreet Derby two years on the trot, World Cup qualifiers in Paris-Bercy, Bordeaux, Berlin, Bologna and Olympia to name but a few. Added to this their several Nations Cup appearances, a Team Silver medal at the 1995 European Championships in St Gallen and a Team Bronze medal at the 1997 European Championships in Mannheim, John and Welham were one of the best show jumping combinations in the world. In 1996 they earned the ultimate accolade, representing Great Britain at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

In the year 2000 Welham partnered John to victory in the world famous Hickstead Derby at the ripe old age of twenty. He then retired from competition the following year to enjoy competing in veteran showing classes and hunting with Keeley for several years.