Khoja's Story

The £50 horse who went from rags to riches to become a STAR!

This article contains various updates on Kineton Khoja between 2015 and 2017, written by his then-owner Nichola Waddicor.

Khoja has since enjoyed many other successes, now driven in a pair known as 'Chip n Dale' by Alison Osborne 

Kineton Khoja is a pure-bred Caspian Horse, nine years old.  He may be small, but he has the physique of an elegant horse.   He was bred by Mrs Suzanne Dore, whose prefix was chosen because she then lived, and started her Caspian stud, at Kineton, near Stratford on Avon, in Warwickshire. At six years old, Khoja was broken to ride at a riding school in the Cotswolds.  But all too soon, due to a shortage of suitable riders, he was given nothing to do and was in danger of being sold or put down - until the day he was discovered - by accident - by his current owner.   From that day onwards his life changed completely as he revealed a surprising hidden talent...

His owner, Nichola Waddicor, will now take up the story, which starts in early 2015 and tells of her excitement at seeing Khoja for the first time:

“6th January 2015.  That's the date I shall always remember - the day I first set eyes on Khoja.”

I work at the Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford, in the Cotswolds.   January was wet and Christmas just over; a quiet time of year with not a lot going on. One of the zebra keepers had come into the office the day before, and posed the question:  “I don't suppose you want a pony?". "How big?" I asked. "Small!" came the reply.

Well, actually.... I was looking for the next driving pony for my daughter Amelia. We have a rather lovely Dartmoor Hill Pony, with which she had done very well indeed, but she was moving out of Junior classes into Adult.   She needed a pony with a bit more ‘wow!  Perhaps a nice Section A, I had thought…

 "Well, as long as it's not over 12hh, I could be interested…" I replied.   

Two hours later   "Definitely not over 12.2hh, and he's a pure bred Caspian."

My ears really pricked up then - I remember hearing of these Caspians back in the 1970's when they were brought over from Iran, but have never even considered one since.  "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing!  He's in a riding school, but he’s done nothing for the last year. The owner seemed to think he might make a good driving pony and as you drive, I thought I'd ask.  Otherwise he could end up in the lion pen."

So next day, at morning tea break, we popped round to the riding school.   It was still raining. And there stood this sodden little man who was the most amazing chestnut colour I have ever seen. Then I saw him move.  I was instantly hooked.  I have a seven second video of his trot, which blew me away. 

 She wanted £50 for him.   £50?!!!

I had a shuffle round at home with the other ponies and sent his picture to Amelia "Aahhh! Isn't he sweet!" and on the 24th (her birthday) we collected our new purchase and brought him home.  That was just over eight months ago - and what a roller coaster ride those eight months have been! 

The unwanted riding school pony was brought back into work.  We started to break him to drive, he starred on the Caspian Horse Society’s beautiful 50th Anniversary Calendar, he's been to boot camp to learn to drive properly and cope with any situation, he's been to shows both in-hand and driven, he had a brilliant day at Ashby Show in the Caspian Classes and featured in several major articles in 'In Harness’ magazine.  What a horse!!!”

Nichola picks up the story again in early 2016…

“Khoja has been with us for just over a year now.  We learned that, having been broken to saddle at six, Khoja had done a couple of years in the riding school, but a lack of suitably small and able riders meant that for the year prior to us buying him, he had done literally nothing other than being handled now and then.

We started him slowly, bringing him back into ridden work and taking him out and about to see the real world (he’d been restricted mainly to the riding school, with short hacks in the surrounding estate).

We wanted a driving pony that was safe and able to cope with the multiple situations which can occasionally arise.  Horse shows were initially very exciting and he soon learnt that going out in the horse box was fun and nothing to worry about.  By Easter we were long reining him, introducing blinkers and the feel of 'shafts' made from jump poles down his sides. Slowly we progressed to his first trip out, with his wheels following along behind.  In July we decided to send him off for some specialist training with Barry and Melanie Hook of Horse Drawn Promotions. He came back ready to take on anything! 

His first driving show was in early September 2015, where he came 2nd in the Novice Pony class. For his second outing, he went to the Osborne Refrigeration National Championships at Addington Manor, where he took a creditable 3rd place.

Winter was approaching.  We didn't want to turn him away, to forget about his newly learned skills.  Amelia had always fancied giving Indoor Driving Trials a go, so with nothing to lose, we decided to go for it!  We booked some lessons with Team GBR member James Broome and slowly it started to come together. Their first event was supposed to be 20th October, but a bruised sole meant Khoja was lame, so we took Cosmo, which turned out to be a good idea as at that stage we had no idea what we were doing. They managed to come 6th.

In November Khoja was entered, the lorry was loaded, weather was OK, so off we went on the hour and a half drive to Chepstow.  Their dressage was not too bad. They got a bit lost in the cones, but went clear!  Next were the obstacles.   Now all of their lessons had focused on paces and precision, so this was the first time Khoja had even seen an obstacle, let alone driven one. There were 17 competitors in his class and they came 7th. Not bad, we thought.

The December event came in fancy dress.   Khoja and Amelia took the top dressage score!  With a clear round in the cones and a bit more of a clue with the obstacles, they managed 5th overall!

January came - another competition to go to.  By now we were organised, with tea and coffee in the horse box and bacon butties at lunchtime.  Their dressage was improving, and they had a clear again round the cones. Obstacles?  Well, they lived up to their name!  Somewhat challenging and the vehicle got stuck on one. They lost 35 seconds, but still came 6th out of 12!  

In a chance look at a driving website soon afterwards, we spotted a small light-weight competition vehicle for sale.   24 hours later and a trip up to Derby - it was ours!  Fortunately we were able to sell the old vehicle nearly as fast.

Another Tuesday - and another lesson with James Broome.  Oh no! The carriage was great, but the harness wasn't compatible!  A quick trawl round the internet and various replacement parts were on their way. But this was all a bit hotch-potch, so we bit the bullet, ordered a new harness and awaited its arrival.

February arrived and the next competition was fast approaching. Cobbled harness in hand, new carriage loaded, we set off again. There was a break in the weather and the sun shone.  Khoja got the second best dressage score (21 points) and the fastest clear time round the cones!  Obstacles loomed, trickier than ever.  Oh dear!  Three people had already been eliminated!  Amelia planned her route carefully and took it steady round the first two.  Clear. She took a deep breath and they went for it. Obstacles 3 and 4 - clear - not eliminated!   Phew! Now all we had to do was wait for the results.

Fantastic!  First out of the remaining six competitors!   They had done it, their first win at a driving trials event! 

Soon afterwards, the post arrived... a Golden Ticket that the 2,200 competitors who started the indoor trials season all dreamed of getting - and one had landed on our doorstep!   “You have qualified for the British Indoor Championships at Keysoe”   Oh, wow!   Only 157 competitors from that 2,200 have qualified - and Team Khoja is one of them!

The new harness arrived.  Way too big, so loads of alterations had to be made and now we had something that more-or-less fitted, which arrived just in time for the last event of the season.  After a quick modification to the carriage shafts we were ready to go. But Khoja knows what's coming now and looks forward to the cones and obstacles (" Why bother with this dressage rubbish? I am the Mighty Ginger!!") They still managed to redeem themselves and finished 5th .  

So, to the British Championships at Keysoe we headed. 110 miles to travel, two days of competition and a couple of nights staying over in the horsebox.   Khoja had never had a sleepover before!  The M40 traffic meant that it took hours to get there. We declared, fetched our number and set up camp, two of us in the horsebox, two in the tent inside the trailer and Khoja in his corral. 

Team Khoja was first to go on the Saturday morning. After freezing in the lorry overnight we were all a bit bleary-eyed.  Khoja had never competed indoors before, so it was a big ask, but he pulled out all the stops and did a creditable dressage test.  Actually they were 2nd, impressive against the 17 best juniors in the country!  Unfortunately, pilot error and a technical hitch that caused equipment failure got them eliminated after the cones.   We were absolutely gutted.

Nevertheless Amelia and her back-stepper, Morag Patrick, gathered themselves to complete the final day. The crowd was cheering, the tannoy was blaring, the music was loud, but they did it. They completed the obstacles and did them well.  If they had maintained their 2nd place overnight, their times would have given them a good chance of being placed…but it was not our year.  We’d achieved more than we had ever expected. We never set out to qualify and were totally shocked when we did. What an achievement for a little chap who had only been driving properly for about six months!  We were delighted - and frustrated - at the same time.  Amelia had never done driving trials before, so it was truly the blind leading the blind. Next year we should know what we’re doing!

I think we can now say that Khoja is a carriage horse. His future seems to be in driving trials and Amelia is keen to give it a go.  While we wait to see what Amelia will do in the world of work, we are enjoying the challenge of trials driving and the pleasure of owning Khoja.”

Nichola again, autumn 2016…

“During the summer of 2016, we decided it was time to give One Day Events (ODE) a try.  They follow a similar format to the ridden discipline, with dressage, cones replacing show jumping and outdoor obstacles replacing cross country jumps.  It meant another dressage test to learn, this time in an 80m x 40m arena.

So, in July, after gaining 1st place with Khoja in the in-hand Caspian class for males over four years old at Ashby Show, we headed to deepest Wales, somewhere between the Black mountains and the Brecon Beacons, not far from Builth Wells.  Eppynt Carriage Club was holding an ODE on the Saturday and an Evolution class on the Sunday.  We were keen to go for the Evolution class, as we had competed in one the previous month and won whereby Team Khoja had qualified for at the Nationals in Cirencester, so they needed the practice (there was also the small matter of Drivers’ Championship points at stake!) so we packed the tent and headed off for a weekend of competition in Wales.

The weather was glorious, the views stunning. This was the first time Team Khoja had tackled solid obstacles before - at indoor and club events they are usually collapsible, but not these. They were really solid and on a hill; four of them (we normally get two and you do them twice).

Remarkably, it all came together and they WON!  We were so stunned – their first ever ODE and they had finished first!   It was chilly overnight, and somewhat foggy in the morning but it promised to be another bright and sunny day – Khoja had a pen of grass, so he was happy. It was time to re-cap on the Evolution dressage test, learn a new cones course and a different set of obstacles. There were 11 in the class, including the winner at Keysoe (we’ll ignore the previous disaster there!) and a couple of others who had been well placed.

Team Khoja came out victorious, with TWO wins in TWO days. Incredible!

Over the rest of the summer they took part in various other ODE and Evolution classes, continually coming up trumps. Cirencester and the National Championships were looming close on the horizon.

At Cirencester they were an astonishing 2nd (Reserve Champions). For some reason, Khoja wouldn’t settle in the dressage, normally one of their strong points. It may have been because the dressage took place around the cones course and he knew what was coming next.  Anyway, by smashing the times in the cones and obstacles, they managed to claw their way back, ending up just pipped for the top slot by only two penalties!

There is no point in regrets, because the reality is that having been driven for one year and two days, our £50 redundant riding school pony came 2nd at the National Driving Championships, which is pretty awesome. To cap it all, Amelia won the Drivers’ Championship for the Evolution Pony class!   It was a wonderful day!  So many people turned up to support Team Khoja.  They included a young lady who recognized Khoja as the pony she had broken to ride many years ago at the riding school, who recalled taking Khoja and his mum (Henden Mahtab) to the Caspian Breed Society shows. Her brother led Khoja in his first in-hand class and she had also known Khoja’s brothers.  The many people who have supported us over the season are so much appreciated.

Team Khoja won at Putloe Court – even though Khoja got a bit above himself, as he now knows what’s coming and was really motoring (not so good).  They won by a huge margin of over 30 penalties.

At Driving Camp we spent time trying to re-focus him and get him under better control. They won the camp competition, but he was still a bit nutty.  By now we were having lessons again with James Broome as we had the first indoor competition on 16th October, the start of their campaign to try and qualify for Keysoe again at Easter 2017. 

At the David Broome Event Centre at Crickland on 16th October, Team Khoja again finished first, beating their nearest opponent by a fantastic 39.04 penalty points (their 155.01 to the nearest score of 194.04), by far and away the fastest time of the day and they picked up very few penalties for accuracy in the obstacle and cones sections. 

Nichola brings us up to date, in early 2017:

“They are still out there competing.  Jane (Jane Holderness Roddam, CHS President) and Harry (Thirlby) came down last week to see him destroy the competition and win his class by 34 penalties, getting best score of the day by over 3 penalties and taking the 100% score!!   Amelia has been mentioned in the last two additions of ‘In Harness’ as winning by a large margin.

They have won four out of five competitions in the winter series at Cricklands. Unfortunately pilot error meant they were eliminated in the December competition, when they went through an obstacle the wrong way!  (Not Khoja's fault, as he went exactly where he was asked to go!!)

The rules state that you have to win your area league with the best five scores counting from six competitions, and score over 75% to qualify for the British Indoor Championships. Currently that elimination is costly, as they lie 2nd in the league, so they need to win the final event (no pressure!) to qualify.  The percentage score is based on all competitors, not just those in their class.  Some people get a handicap (like juniors/pairs/veterans) therefore to get 100% is the best score of the day. At the last event there were 27 competitors, (of which nine were in Amelia’s class). She has been ‘best score’ previously, but after handicaps were applied, they ended up with 96.8%. So this year it’s going down to the wire.  I have no idea if they can hold their nerve, win the next event and qualify for Keysoe. Gulp!”

Events attended in 2016 by ‘Team Khoja’ (Khoja the Wonder Horse, Owner Nichola Waddicor, Driver  Amelia Waddicor and Back-Stepper Morag Patrick)

Indoors, winter season 2015/16

January ‘16 :Cricklands, Indoor driving - 5th

February: Cricklands, Indoor driving - 1st

March : Cricklands, Indoor driving - 5th

April   : British Indoor Championships – (let's gloss over that one!)

Outdoors, 2016:

May   Le Trec, Eynsham,1st & Reserve Champion, Cones – 2nd

May  Tan House, Conestecals - 3rd (cones and obstacles in one course)

June Royal Bath and West, Exercise Class - 1st, (and qualified for Osbourne Refrigeration BDS Nationals and the Victoria Foods Championships)

June     Smiths Lawn, Windsor - 4 wheel exercise class – 6th

June Cricklands, Evolution class – 1st qualifing for the British Carriage Driving National Championships at Cirencester Park in September.

July   :  Ashby Show Caspian classes, in-hand ‘Males over 4 years old' - 1st

July   :  Cricklands, All-in-One driving - 2nd

July  :   Eppynt, (Wales) ODE, Evolution – 1st

August Eppynt ODE - 1st

August Powys driving club, Evolution, - 1st

September: Cirencester, National Championships, Evolution Reserve Champion. (+ Amelia won Drivers’ Championship.)

September: Putloe Court, ODE – 1st

September : ‘Carriage Camp’ – 1st.

Indoors, winter season 2016/17::

October 16th: Cricklands, All-in-One, Novice Pony – 1st .

November.  Cricklands, All-in-One, Novice Pony – 1st

January 2017 Cricklands, All-in-One, Novice Pony – 1st

February 2017 Cricklands, All-in-One, Novice Pony – 1st

Next event: 26th February, Cricklands….

After all that, all we can say is  – WATCH THIS SPACE!

‘In Harness’ magazine has featured Khoja many times:

Issue 40, August/September 2015:

Khoja’s discovery by Nichola and his training for a driving career featured strongly in a major five-page feature on the Caspian Horse, its origins, history and modern counterparts.

Issue 41 (Oct/Nov.2015), Caspians were again featured in the magazine, thanks to Khoja… a half- page leading article this time. Khoja’s appearance at Addington also featured in the show review.

Issue 42 (Dec./Jan. 2016)  Khoja was included in a two-page article on the Magnificent Golden Anniversary Calendar launched to commemorate the 50 years since Caspians were rediscovered by an American woman, Louise Firouz, in Iran.

Issue 47 Oct/Nov 16 Double page spread on ‘Caspian Pony Khoja – driving star’

Issue 48.Dec/Jan 2017: “Seven novice drivers fell in behind Amelia Waddicor, who won by more than 30 penalties.”

Issue 49 (February/March 2017)  “Amelia Waddicor is chasing Sandra Fisher for the league top spot in the Novice Pony section and won by 34 penalties, this time in a class of nine, finishing on 150.66.”

Points won to date:

Here are Khoja and Amelia’s points as they go into the last, all important, Indoor Driving competition at Cricklands on 26th February.  Keep your fingers crossed for them!!!

Click here to return to the Archive