Caroline Frances Bradley MBE (4 April 1946 – 1 June 1983) was an international British show-jumper, becoming the first female winner of the

Puissance Puissance is the high-jump competition in the equestrian sport of show jumping. Description The competition involves a maximum of five rounds - opening round followed by four jump-offs, not against the clock. The first round consists of four t ...

at the

Horse of the Year Show The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now Britis ...

in 1974, an era when the sport was still largely dominated by male riders. She went on to win team gold medals in World and European championships in 1978 and 1979 respectively and had considerable individual success, winning the grand prix at

Hickstead Hickstead may refer to: * All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, a show jumping venue in England * Hickstead (horse), an Olympic gold medal-winning show jumping horse * Hickstead, a hamlet in Twineham civil parish, in the Mid Sussex Distri ...

in 1980 and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 1978 and 1980. She died, aged 37, after collapsing at the

Suffolk Show The Suffolk Show is an annual County shows in the United Kingdom, show that takes place aTrinity Park on the eastern edge of Ipswich in the Purdis Farm area of the English county of Suffolk. It is organised by the Suffolk Agricultural Association, ...

having suffered a heart attack.

Early life

Bradley was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

on 4 April 1946. She and her older sister Judith had their own ponies and learned to ride at an early age. She took part in junior showjumping competitions before progressing to horses at the age of fifteen. She was also a gifted hockey player, representing her country while still at Northampton High School for Girls. On leaving school she spent eighteen months as a working pupil at the

Waterstock House Training Centre Lars Sederholm (27 November 1935 – 12 October 2023) was a Swedish-British equestrian trainer and former consultant head of training for the British Showjumping Association. An obituary in ''Horse & Hound'' described Sederholm as " e of the outs ...

, Oxfordshire where she was taught by Lars Sederholm, former consultant head of training for the

British Showjumping Association British Showjumping is the Great Britain governing body for the equestrian sport of showjumping. It provides the competitors for Team GBR in international competition and sets the rules under which affiliated competitions are held. It is one of ...

. This gave her a good grounding in riding techniques and helped to make her one of the most technically correct riders in the sport.

Equestrian career

Bradley made her debut on the British team, riding a horse called Franco, at the

Dublin Horse Show The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...

in 1966 at the age of 20. She and Franco were part of the victorious British team at the nations' cup in Leipzig in 1967 and she won the civilian open championship at Toronto in 1968. In the following year she competed in the

Badminton Horse Trials The Badminton Horse Trials is a five-day event, one of only seven annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). It takes place in May each year in the park of ...

on Alpaca, a horse belonging to her former trainer, Lars Sederholm. She won Daily Express Sportswoman of the year in 1979 and in 1980 she was made an MBE by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. Her most famous horses were Tigre and 'Marius Silver Jubilee', better known as ' Milton' who later became the mount of internationally successful show-jumper John Whitaker.

Death

Bradley had just completed the first round in the

in 1983, an event being attended by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

, when she collapsed and could not be revived. A later inquest determined that she had suffered heart failure. She was 37 years old. She is buried in Priors Marston in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, where she had lived for a number of years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Caroline 1946 births 1983 deaths British equestrians Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Oxford Sport deaths in England