In 1953, 19-year-old Peter Holden, now a resident at James Wattie Retirement Village in Havelock North, took home the inaugural Olympic Cup. This led him to a lifelong legacy of equestrian involvement.
Presented to the New Zealand Showjumper of the Year, the Olympic Cup was a first for New Zealand showjumpers. In 1953 Peter competed and won on his mother’s horse Starlight, and again took home the cup in 1957 aboard Rum.
The now 90-year-old recalls the initial competition, which was originally held in Palmerston North.
“I suppose winning the Olympic Cup and being presented with it is a great honour, and that is a very special moment for me, and Rum was a bit of a character...
“They always fill that Olympic Cup with red roses and anyways, as the dear lady came past to present it, he lent in and grabbed a few roses,” he laughs.
Peter has a lot of pride for the competition which now takes place at the New Zealand Horse of the Year competition, which he describes as “the Wimbledon of equestrian sport”. The event, now held in Hastings, has competitors all the way from Auckland to the Bluff.
He is very proud that he has had the opportunity to present the award each year, even if he is now accompanied by an automatic ‘steed’ in the form of a golf cart that takes him out to the podium.
“They very kindly asked me as the first winner to do that and I really love that, and believe it or not, I don't think the boys have won it in the last 10 or 15 years.
“These gorgeous girls come in, the one who won it this year was only 22 and she was the only one with two clear rounds.”
Peter competes aboard Rum in 1955.
Peter moved into the James Wattie Village in 2021 with his wife Juliet. The initial move saw them in a lovely townhouse. As his wife has since passed, he recently made the move into a serviced apartment. When we caught up with Peter a couple of months ago, he was very excited to move in.
“I’m so very well looked after by Ryman. I'll give them a plaque. I'm looking forward to going to serviced apartments this winter. Yeah, because then I won't have to bother with the food, and they'll be lovely nurses to care for me. That's going to be a treat and I say thank you to Ryman.”
The village lifestyle also gave him the opportunity to reconnect with a couple of old neighbours, as luck would have it, they’ve become neighbours once again.
“I've got the most lovely neighbours, I’m very spoilt. They continue to come and check on me. Believe it or not the people that are in Ryman, the Gunson family who are next door, Bob and Elizabeth, they were my farming neighbours.
“So, you know there's only a road between our farms for about 40 years. How lucky was I to get beside them! People are important, you know, humans are sociable animals.”
Peter takes his automatic 'steed' out to the 2024 Horse of the Year competition.
Peter grew up in Ongaonga, in the Central Hawke’s Bay. Growing up with “horse mad” parents he was involved with horses from an early age, and even rode a pony to school each day. He trained with various professional equestrians, including pentathlon champion Coleman de Bolger, and Franz Mairinger from the Spanish riding school.
“Franz Mairinger was head and shoulders above Coleman in equestrian sport. So, any chance to get lessons from him were taken.”
He later met and married his wife Juliet, a non-horsey girl. Peter at that point had had horses up to his eyebrows. He'd been thrown into the deep end of equestrian competitions which was a lot of pressure, and something that he didn’t want his kids to have to endure.
“I tried to take the competitiveness of equestrian sport away from my family. They attend and I think they’re quite proud of their father, they quite enjoy watching the old boy wandering out into the oval. Although he needs the golf cart to get there now,” Peter laughs.
“I’m very privileged to be invited, and I appreciate that they still remember me and actually invite me to present it.”
Peter isn’t the only Ryman resident to hold the prestigious title of Olympic Cup winner. Jane Winstone resident Pauline Mowat (née Teki) was the first female recipient of the cup in 1967 aboard her steed Lucky Steve, who clearly lived up to his name.
Peter and Starlight take on a jump in 1953.