Biography

Last year British, local rider Beanie Sturgis (43), who is based near Malmesbury, gained her best ever Badminton and four-star placing, taking 11^th place with Lebowski.

Beanie was born in Scotland, grew up in the Cotswolds and began riding aged three on a two-year-old Welsh Section A. She has been involved in starting young ponies and horses for the last 32-years.

Beanie began competing with the Heythrop Pony Club winning the Pony Club Championships at Weston Park on Jenny Black. The following season she was second in her first three-day event at the JRN Championships at Tweseldown and gained a place as the 1990 Subaru Scholar to train with Mike and Angela Tucker (17-years later she married Mike’s godson Rupert Sturgis).

In 1991 she won the Junior National championships at Windsor and a team gold medal at the Junior European Championships – all with former racehorse Jenny Black.

Beanie then worked at buying, producing and selling and found her next dream horse, Duel, at Malvern Sales. Duel took Beanie to her first Badminton (2006) jumping clear inside the time.

In 2007 Beanie married Beaufort Field-Master Rupert Sturgis – whose parents formerly ran the advanced Dauntsey Horse trials and in October 2008 Rupert and Beanie re-launched the event. Alongside being an event organiser, Beanie is also a Beaufort Field Master, a listed show judge, a course designer (in 2014 she was awarded a BE course designer scholarship) and mother; Rupert and Beanie have two children Sid (8) and Ruby (6).

Lebowski, owned by, Mr Simon Graley, Mrs Jill Lamont and rider, is 17-year-old Australian Thoroughbred, bred to play polo. He was gifted to Beanie by his breeder, Sybil Baillieu when she was working in Australia and she saw him being a cheeky polo pony who no-one could ride, hence his stable name Rotter. He is described as ‘rather complicated but as quiet as a lamb around my children and loves hunting’.