Biography

It will be a first Badminton for British rider Kate Honey (33) who is based in Lambourn, Berkshire. Last year with Badminton entry Fernhill Now or Never Kate completed her first four-star at Luhmuhlen and the pair also completed Pau.

Kate grew up with horses – her mother Ruth rode and evented – and she began competing in the show ring and through the Pony Club. The family then moved to New Jersey in America for five years where Kate competed in show jumping including at the National Pony Club Championships and New Jersey State Junior Leagues. On returning to the UK (aged 16) and finishing school Kate then did a BSc in Equine Science at Moreton Morell and since 2006 has worked with horses full time in the family yard at Lambourn. During this time she represented the Pony Club at the championships, in 2005 passed her A test and was long-listed for the European Young Rider team. In 2011 with Fernhill Now or Never she was a member of the British team for the European two-star championships (Rural Riders).

Kate is also producing young horses that are the result of her mother’s event horse breeding programme ran under the name of Meridian Sport Horses (MSH).

Kate trains with Pammy Hutton, Richard Waygood and Tracie Robinson.

Fernhill Now or Never is a 15-year-old Irish-bred gelding of unknown breeding – Kate has been unsuccessful in tracing back his origins and breeding. He was acquired from Carol Gee of Fernhill sport horses as a five-year-old and has been produced through the grades by Kate. He is described as ‘a private person who likes his own quiet space’. He is the first horse Kate has ridden at four-star.