Very sadly, McLain Ward’s 13-year-old gelding Imperial HBF (VDL Glasgow vh Merelsnest x Original VDL) passed away last week.

Produced as a young horse by Alex Barr (GBR), Imperial was introduced to the five-star level by Great Britain’s Tim Gredley, before McLain Ward (USA) took over the reins in the spring of 2025.

With Gredley, Imperial went from two-star level to being part of the British team at the CSIO5* Longines League of Nations qualifiers in Ocala and Rotterdam as well as representing their nation in the CSIO5* BMO Nations Cup at Spruce Meadows. During their time together, Gredley and Imperial placed fifth in the Rolex Grand Prix of Dublin as well as fourth and third in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup qualifiers in London and Basel respectively, before Ward took over the ride of the talented gelding.

With Ward, Imperial was hugely successful as well. The two were part of the winning American team in the CSIO5* Intesa Sanpaolo Nations Cup in Rome last May as well as in the CSIO5* Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup at CHIO Aachen in July, and placed third in the CSIO5* Rolex Grand Prix of La Baule in June.

With these photos, we take a look back at some of the memorable moments from Imperial’s career.

All photos © Jenny Abrahamsson for World of Showjumping. 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.