“I need people’s help” says the popular Irish rider Jonty Evans who is at risk of losing his Olympic horse Cooley Rorke’s Drift
Jonty Evans is appealing to the eventing community to try and help him keep the ride on Cooley Rorke’s Drift (Art), the 11 year old horse he rode to ninth place at the Rio Olympics
Jonty has launched a crowd-funding campaign to help him raise several hundred thousand pounds to keep the ride on Cooley Rorkes Drift, currently owned by Fiona Elliott, who has received a significant offer from a US based buyer
"Nations Cup, Olympics, Badminton - the success that Art and I have achieved has not gone unnoticed, and there have been some huge offers made for him to be sold. His owners have a young family and I totally understand their need to accept an offer. As you can imagine, from my point of view, selling my best mate had never entered my head. It has been a horrific few months wondering if he will be sold, and praying that a solution might be found. The owners have given me time to try and raise the funds, and have agreed that I can buy him at a preferential price. We have some funding pledged, but we are short of the goal, the only solution we have left is to try a Crowdfunding campaign"
Adding more pressure is the fact that Jonty and Art have been selected to ride for Ireland at the FEI European Championships in Poland in August but “if the ownership issue is not sorted out, I will not be able to go”
The pair really came to attention when they finished third at the Blenheim CIC3* 8 & 9 YO when Jonty told us the story behind the start of their partnership. Since then they have gone on to great things and will hopefully continue to do so together
You can help Jonty and Art by donating at www.jontyandart.com
