Remembering Shockey Gillet The Eventing Community was saddened to hear of the death of Shockey Gillet a few weeks ago. We mourn his loss, but I think most of us also envy that fact that he died in his eighties while on a horse. I have always had the greatest admiration for Shockey. I evented with his daughter Iva when we were both Young Riders, and Shockey was always there as the consummate Horse Show Dad, hauling Iva to the Events and grooming for her. (I could appreciate that, as my Mom was doing the same for me.) But what was unusual was that when she stopped competing to start a family, Shockey decided that it was his turn. Having taken Iva to the events for all those years, he said it had always looked like a lot of fun, so now in mid-life he got a horse and took up Eventing himself. I always thought that was the coolest thing! Shockey and his horses were not always at the top of the leader board, but his horses were always happy, and nobody enjoyed the sport more than Shockey. I remember Shockey as a kind and generous man who loved horses, loved the sport, and always wanted to help others. I remember an incident years ago, where I was about to enter the Steeplechase start box at Radnor and my horse was attacked by a pit bull. In the ensuing melee my groom managed to tackle the dog, but both my horse and I were somewhat unnerved, just seconds before our start time. It was Shockey who was there, calming my horse and talking to me to settle my nerves, ready to intercede with the officials if extra time was needed, to be sure we set out on Steeplechase in the right frame of mind to be safe. I will always remember how much he helped me that day. In losing Shockey, we have lost a great sportsman, a true lover of horses, and a friend of the sport. It is somehow appropriate that he died while riding a horse. I think he would have wanted it that way. I expect a lot of us would. Shockey’s death reminds me of another tribute I saw once, on a plaque at New Bolton Center, in memory of another great horseman/sportsman: “And there with his peers may we leave him, with all the good men and the true, Who came to the last of the gateways, and laughed and went galloping through.”
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:52:08 +0000
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