PEOPLE are very rarely lukewarm when it comes to an opinion on mares. The naysayers condemn them as complicated, high-maintenance and slaves to their hormones, while those in the pro camp can spend days praising their bravery and intelligence. “You cannot beat a good mare,” they say, but in the same sentence often caution “there are many bad ones”.
On the hunting field it can go either way. A hunter of many years put it in a nutshell when he described the sport as “patience and perseverance peppered by moments of high excitement”. This contrast can blow a horse’s brain, flicking a switch that sends them into freak-mode or triggering another that says, “this is what I was born to do, and I will do it so well that you will never ask me to do anything else again”. Find that mode with a mare and you are in horse-of-a-lifetime territory.
This was certainly the case for Tocky McKie when she bought an eight-year-old chestnut mare called Peggy. Tocky and her husband Ian were both Masters of the Bicester with Whaddon Chase at the time, and Tocky would often fieldmaster for Ian on thechampion amateur jockey, Ian was not going to mess around when it came to crossing the country so Tocky knew that she needed something special if she was to follow.
