The 16.2hh grey gelding, Milton was born in 1977 sired by the show jumper Caroline Bradley's Marius. Caroline purchased Milton as a foal and trained him until her tragic and unexpected death in 1983. She had told her parents that Milton was to be her Olympic horse and they resisted numerous offers to sell him.
Caroline's parents decided to send Milton to John Whitaker but he couldn't take the horse straight away and as they needed to find homes for some 29 of Caroline's horses Milton went to Steven Hadley along with 5 other horses.
Unfortunately Milton sustained a tendon injury whilst with Steven. He reared while being clipped and the blade sliced into his tendon, this resulted in Milton having tendon surgery and 18 months off work. But as British team vet, John Macures said this could have been a blessing in disguise, "Very often these super horses, they work too much too young, and with Milton because of his accident he was brought up very slowly and gently. When he was 9 years old he just had the experience of a 6 year old."
After his recovery Doreen Bradley, Caroline's mother, sent Milton to John Whitaker,this was the start of one of the greatest show jumping partnerships ever seen. Milton and John Whitaker went on to win over £1million pounds in prize money, silver and gold medals in Europen Championships, The FEI World Cup Final twice as well as numerous other international show jumping competions.
John said of Milton, "when he takes off, you felt that you'd never come down".
Milton was retired in 1993, he spent his retirement in Yorkshire at John Whitaker's farm. He died, as a result of colic, in 1999, one of the best loved show jumpers of all time.
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