Text © World of Showjumping

“Colette made me believe that everything is possible, that's basically what she has done for me,” Donald Whitaker told World of Showjumping in the aftermath of the Longines FEI Jumping European Championships 2025 in A Coruña, Spain, where he and the 12-year-old mare Millfield Colette (Cornet Obolensky x Clearway, bred by Sue Jaggar, owned by Reitsportanlage Dagobertshausen GmbH & CO.KG and Donald Whitaker) were part of the British team that won silver, and placed 10^th individually.

“She's not the easiest horse in the world though,” Whitaker said. “She is very special, so you have to figure her out – but she tells you, very clearly. I think we came together at the right point in time; if I'd had her two years earlier, it probably would not have been as good because I don't think I had the right experience then. I think everything happened for a reason.”

To learn more about Millfield Colette’s journey to the top of the sport – which for some of those involved has meant a whole new beginning, and to others an end of an era – World of Showjumping spoke to Millfield Stud’s Sue Jaggar who bred the mare, Neal Robinson who bought her as a three-year-old, as well as Laura and Tommy Kennedy who produced the charming grey mare until Whitaker took over the reins in 2022.

For Sue Jaggar’s Millfield Stud, Colette has been a shining star. “Colette’s mother was a mare called T-Chi Chi and we bought her from a friend in Holstein,” Sue tells. “For a short while my partner jumped T-Chi Chi; she was very much like Colette, sharp and very keen.”

“We used to go over to the Netherlands and Germany and visit the Bundeschampionat and different stallion shows,” Sue continues. “There were two stallions we liked back then, Balou du Rouet and Cornet Obolensky. At the Bundeschampionat, we thought all the young horses by Cornet Obolensky were really good jumpers and ended up using him on T-Chi Chi. The result was Colette, who was a very naughty foal.”

She's got a very good brain; she wants to work and doesn't like being bored

- Sue Jaggar, of Millfield Stud -

“A friend of mine ended up buying Colette as a foal. She had bought a broodmare from Millfield Stud, that she wanted to cover with Cornet Obolensky. However, we never got the mare pregnant at all. Therefore, she wanted to buy Colette, who was a Cornet Obolensky-foal – although we kept saying that Colette would be too much for my friend as she is an amateur rider,” Sue tells. “Eventually, my friend sent Colette back to us to do some work with her when she was three. As soon as Colette came back, she tried to jump out of the stable – she was very feisty.”

While feisty, Colette was easy to get used to the saddle. “She was really good to work with,” Sue tells. “She's got a very good brain; she wants to work and doesn't like being bored. I think that's probably obvious now.”

After loose jumping Colette a couple of times, Sue and her partner thought she was a good lady's horse, but not for an amateur. “I contacted some friends, Laura Robinson and her dad Neal, and said, ‘I've got a three-year-old here and I think it's right up your street – I think this horse will suit you perfectly’,” Sue tells. “They came, they saw a loose jump and bought her.”

“It's fantastic to follow her now,” Sue tells about watching Colette with Donald Whitaker. “It's good to see her going well. It is great for us as a stud, although we have actually given up breeding now. We wanted to go out with good horses, and we finally got there.”

“When we started breeding, we didn't want to breed UK style,” Sue tells about the operation at Millfield Stud, that ran from 2003 to last year. “We came to the Netherlands and Germany, talked to breeders and bought warmblood mares that had good brains and good vetting and then used stallions that we thought would suit our mares. Millfield Stud registered quite a lot of our horses with the KWPN, Holstein and Oldenburg, because we felt that they were more professional studbooks.”

We wanted to go out with good horses, and we finally got there

- Sue Jaggar, of Millfield Stud -

“We ended up, unfortunately, breeding for fashion because that's what people want. You end up using the latest stallions,” Sue tells. “Our early ones that we bred were quite difficult to sell because they were by young stallions. If we used a young stallion on a good mare, it was not worth the money; nobody wanted to buy it because it was unproven. These days, it's all about ICSI and it's all got a bit false as breeding, with too many offspring by the same stallion. It is all about the money and less about breeding the right stallion to the right mare."

"Furthermore, for us in the UK, it's just gotten very difficult with both the costs and ordering semen. We were struggling with staff as well – I think everybody is. Our last foals were born in 2024 and we had no foals this year. Now we can have some holidays, and go see Colette jumping.”

“She is a feisty mare,” Neal Robinson – who bought Millfield Colette, or Ellie as they call her, from Sue Jaggar – says. “She was coming three when I bought her. I’ve had quite a few horses from Sue Jaggar and most of them have gone on to do big things, including Castlefield Cornelious, who we ran at the same time as Ellie.”

“My daughter Laura matches well with forward going blood horses, so I knew she would suit her,” Neal continues. “Ellie took a lot of patience to bring on as she was a real handful right through until she was seven. A fun fact is that I was the first person to win any money on her when she was a youngster, when she earned her first placing.”

Ellie took a lot of patience to bring on as she was a real handful right through until she was seven

- Neal Robinson - 

“She gives an amazing feeling. We have three two-year-olds out of her which all look feisty like her, especially the filly who is the spitting image of her mum,” Neal tells. “Fingers crossed the line continues with as much form!”

“It is brilliant watching Ellie with Donald. The better they do, the more hope I have for her offspring. We went to support them at the European Championship which was amazing. Donald is a really nice guy and I feel proud of what they have achieved.”

Laura – Neal’s daughter – and her husband Tommy Kennedy had Colette from a three-year-old up until Whitaker bought her. “My dad saw her loose jumping at Millfield Stud, loved her and bought her,” Laura tells.

We are never in a big rush to sell a good one because we believe they always end up selling themselves

- Laura Kennedy -

“We buy and breed a few,” Tommy explains about the operation he and Laura have in North Yorkshire. “We don't breed so many; three or four every year for the last five years. We mainly buy nice horses aged between two- and four-years-old and produce them for as long as we can. We are never in a big rush to sell a good one because we believe they always end up selling themselves.”

“Sometimes in the U.K., you can get quite carried away with a young horse,” Laura adds. “We don't have such a good young horse system here. We personally try to just stick to our own plan – and all the horses are different anyway. Colette was straight away good from the start, and she could do anything, but some of the other ones take more time and we try not to push them. When they're ready, we take them out.”

“When she came, she was a good type, but she was quite small and weak looking,” Laura recalls about her first impression of Colette. “However, you could see that she had a lot of blood and character about her, and a lot of energy. When she loose jumped, she was very electric. My husband Tommy actually started her first in one or two shows, and then I rode her the whole time from four until nine.”

She was always a very special mare, and she took a lot of work because you had to take your time with her

- Tommy Kennedy -

“She was quite nice at the start,” Tommy recalls. “The first time I jumped her in the ring was in a 1.10m class as a four-year-old coming five. Straight away, I thought we had something a bit different in her. She was always a very special mare though, and she took a lot of work because you had to take your time with her. It's not a quick job with her.”

“She was not so easy for me,” Laura admits. “She had lots and lots of energy. In the ring, she was nearly always very good and straightforward, but getting her to the ring relaxed was the hard part. As a five-year-old, she qualified for Lanaken and she jumped into the final there, going clear every day. Straight away, she had a lot of buyers. To be honest, we did actually try to sell her, but in the end, the people that wanted to buy her just didn't see it through. Then, she didn't really do so much as a six-year-old; halfway through the year we did a few shows abroad and then again qualified for Lanaken.”

“There were always people asking, but they used to question if she would be good enough,” Laura continues. “She was there to be sold at some point, but it just never really happened. When she was nine, we went to the Sunshine Tour, and she was placed in a three-star Grand Prix – where she jumped amazing."

"Again, we had quite a lot of people asking for her, and that was when Donald bought her. He actually wasn't there at the show, but he always had an eye on her and had been asking about her before we went to Vejer. When she was placed in the Grand Prix, he called and said he wanted to do something. We told him there were quite a lot of people asking, so if he wanted to do something, he would have to be quick. He didn't try her, he just bought her over the phone,” Laura tells.

There were always people asking, but they used to question if she would be good enough

- Laura Kennedy -

“Along the way, we turned down a few offers too, as we knew that it would not be a match,” Laura explains. “Even if the money was there, it was important for us that she went to someone that we thought was going to get the best out of her.”

“I think it's different when you know you have something a bit extra,” Tommy continues. “You want to give them the right trajectory and have them end up in the right places. It would have been easy to sell Colette for a lot a lot of money to a junior rider, but for sure they would have done a few shows and she would have been back and looking for a new home again. To be fair, Donald was very brave when he bought her. For him also, the minute he got her, it didn't click straight away. It took him a little while to get her going good. For the work and everything that he's put into her, to get the bond that he has with her now, it must be just so special for him.”

“It is amazing to follow them now,” Tommy says. “It proves a lot of people wrong. It's easy to believe in your own horses and I think everyone is a big believer in what they have, but we always thought we had something really special in her – as long as we could manage to get her there, in the right shape, and find someone like Donald who can manage her and work with her. Her fight in the ring was always 100%. You just had to make sure that she wanted to fight for you, and if she did, it felt like she could do anything.”

Before buying Colette over the phone, Donald Whitaker had had his eye on the mare for a long time. However, it was his girlfriend Nicola Pohl who saw the potential for a great match. “I always saw her as a young horse, always watched her, and always knew of her,” Whitaker tells. “However, it was my girlfriend Nicola who really noticed her,” Donald explains. “She was nine when we bought her, and we literally bought her over the phone. We never tried her because we were very confident that it was a good fit. It's not something we often do, but everything about the situation was quite special.”

To me, she's one in a million

- Donald Whitaker -

“When we got her home, I figured out pretty fast that she is very special,” Donald continues. “It is kind of her way or no way. The way I looked at horses, my approach to everything, she changed all that for me completely. Going from the level that I was doing to what I am doing now wouldn’t be possible without her, and I don’t think I’ll find another one like her. To me, she's one in a million.”

“She's got the biggest heart; she never ever lets you down, and I don’t think she could if she tried. She gives everything she has. I’ve never had a feeling with a horse like I have with her. She changed everything for me; she gave me my first successes at a high level, and my first five-star Grand Prix. When she goes in the ring, she is like a lion, she grows and you really feel it – she gives me that confidence to go do what we're doing. I couldn't possibly do it without her. That's the beauty of our sport, that you can click with a horse like this,” Donald concludes.

27.11.2025 No reproduction of any of the content in this article will be accepted without a written permission, all rights reserved © World of Showjumping.com. If copyright violations occur, a penalty fee will apply.