Murphy Himself was a horse that excelled in the sport of

eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

, primarily under rider

Ian Stark Ian David Stark, OBE (born 22 February 1954) is a retired Scottish equestrian who competed in the sport of eventing. Stark was born in Galashiels in the Borders in 1954 and began riding horses at the age of 10. S ...

. Born in 1978, Murphy Himself was first ridden by Virginia "Ginny" Leng. She bought him in Northern Ireland in 1981 or 1982 for eventing. Under Leng, Murphy won both Le Touquet and Burghley. Leng had difficulty controlling the horse. Stark tried him out in 1988, and he agreed to exchange horses with Leng, Murphy Himself for his own horse Griffin. Stark and Murphy experienced great success together, completing

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

several times, receiving the silver medal at the

1990 FEI World Equestrian Games The 1990 FEI World Equestrian Games were held in Stockholm, Sweden from July 24 to August 5, 1990. They were the first edition of the FEI World Equestrian Games, games which are held every four years and run by the International Federation for Equ ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

representing the British Team, and competing in the Barcelona Olympics. After the ground jury did not pass Murphy in the final horse inspection at Barcelona, the gelding was retired. He was fox hunted a few times, before he was put down due to a shattered hock from an injury in the pasture.

Achievements

* 1st at Avenches (1984) with Ginny Leng * 1st at 1986 Le Touquet CCI with Ginny Leng * 1st at 1986 Burghley with Ginny Leng * 1st at the 1988 Boekelo event * Individual and Team silver at the Stockholm World Equestrian Games in 1990 * 2nd place at 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 ...

in 1991 * Member of the British Eventing Team at the

1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

{{cite web , title=Murphy Himself , url=https://www.olympedia.org/horses/1726 , website=Olympedia , access-date=21 January 2024

References

Eventing horses 1978 animal births Irish Sport Horses