MERELY A RIDER, the autobiography of Anneli Drummond-Hay, with Martha Terry

224pp., illus., hardback, d.w., Stroud, 2022

Champion rider Anneli Drummond was born in Scotland in 1937. As an eventer she won both Badminton and the first Burghley Horse Trials on her horse Merely-A-Monarch in the early 1960s. She changed to show jumping and won many Grand Prix competitions. She represented Great Britain for 14 years on the Olympic Nations Cup Team, was British Sportswoman of the Year three times and South African Sportswoman of the Year eight times. She holds the women's' world high jump record at 2.36 meters and remains the only rider to be shortlisted for Dressage, Showjumping and Eventing for the same Olympic Games. 

She moved to South Africa in 1971 and ran Penny Place Stables in Johannesburg. Riding for South Africa, she competed in the World Equestrian Games in 1994. Her horse Merely-a-Monarch was inducted into the British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame in 2005 and in 2010 she was inducted into The British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame. She died in Johannesburg in 2022.